Five young cricket stars who lit up the IPL 2024

A look at five youngsters who caught the eye during the Indian Premier League 2024 tournament.

Jake Fraser-McGurk (Image Source: Google)

Kolkata Knight Riders hammered Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets to win the Indian Premier League for a third time.

AFP Sport looks at five youngsters who caught the eye during the Twenty20 tournament.

Jake Fraser-McGurk (Australia)

The Australian impressed in his debut IPL season with his fearless batting for Delhi Capitals, earning glowing praise from Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly.

The 22-year-old opener came in as an injury replacement for bowler Lungi Ngidi and hammered 330 runs in nine matches at a punishing strike rate of over 234.

His explosive performances prompted Australia to include him in their squad as a travelling reserve for next month's T20 World Cup after he was not in their initial list.

Delhi head coach and former Australia captain Ponting earmarked Fraser-McGurk as "a serious talent". Ganguly predicted a bright future for the "game-changer", who has played two ODIs for Australia.

Abhishek Sharma (India)

The flamboyant left-hander, 23, was key to Hyderabad's run to the final.

He smashed 484 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of over 200 and formed an attacking opening pair with Australia's Travis Head.

Abhishek also contributed with his left-arm spin when he took two wickets against Rajasthan Royals to take Hyderabad into their third IPL final.

"He is amazing, I wouldn't want to bowl against him. He's scary," skipper Pat Cummins said of the youngster after his knock of 66 helped Hyderabad into the play-offs.

Despite his displays Abhishek failed to make India's formidable World Cup squad.

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