It seems like every week at the moment we’re witnessing another instance of Australian batter Jake Fraser-McGurk lighting it up in the Indian Premier League.

Despite his good form, as it stands, the 22-year-old won’t appear in this year’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.

Here’s what we know:

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Why was Jake Fraser-McGurk left out of the T20 World Cup squad

The Victorian was one of several unlucky players to miss out on the Australian squad for the tournament which gets underway in June.

Unfortunately for McGurk, the ICC limits squad size to 15, meaning selectors have to make some tough calls and often opt for versatility where possible.

George Bailey, chair of the Australian selection panel, explained the decision to leave out some players, including Fraser-McGurk.

“Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly,” Bailey said. 

“Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover.”

Bailey did give those who missed out a glimmer of hope, confirming they could make changes to the squad up until May 25.

“We will continue monitoring several players who have missed out on this preliminary squad and note that if we wish to change this squad, we have the option to do so over the coming weeks in accordance with ICC regulations,” he said. 

“Ultimately the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign.”

While he has been making plenty of runs in this year’s IPL, even Fraser-McGurk concedes he’s behind several key names in the pecking order.

Who did Australia select instead of Jake Fraser-McGurk?

Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, Fraser-McGurk spoke about his omission, and did a pretty good job of detailing which players are in front of him.

“There’s two ways you can look at it. You can look at it through, ‘this is what I’ve done to prove my case,’ and then there’s also, ‘look, a month and a half ago I wasn’t even in the picture,'” Fraser-McGurk said.

“They probably had a good idea of what [the squad] was a month and a half ago, trying to build that and get the connection in the team. And it’s also hard to fit in.

“You’ve got David Warner, our best opener ever in three formats. You’ve got Travis Head, who is lighting it up over here and has lit it up over the past 18 months.

“And then Mitch Marsh is the same and he’s also the captain.

“I can’t really see myself batting five or six because we’re pretty set there with Tim David, Cam Green and those sort of blokes. That’s the way I think about it. That’s fine. There’s hopefully going to be more time for that.

“If I do somehow get a travelling reserve [spot] then great, I can get a good experience there.

“It didn’t really bother me a hell of a lot because I wasn’t in this position to sort of feel like I’ve earned that yet. World Cup cricket is a lot different to IPL and franchise cricket.”

Jake Fraser-McGurk stats

Fraser-McGurk has represented Australia twice, playing in a pair of ODIs against West Indies earlier this year, making scores of 10 and 41.

However, it has been for Delhi Capitals in this year’s IPL in which the right-hander has really announced himself to the international.

In seven innings, Fraser-McGurk has scored five half centuries, including a swashbuckling 84 off 27 balls.

The Aussie is averaging is 44 and most recently scored 50 off just 20 deliveries in his side’s win over Rajasthan Royals.