South Africa and Delhi Capitals paceman Anrich Nortje took his game up a notch against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2021 match on Wednesday (September 22). Nortje bowled with serious pace to rattle SRH batsmen to claim 2/12 and earned the man-of-the-match award as well.
Nortje had to wait for eight games before he got his first chance to play in IPL 2021. The speedster picked up the crucial wickets of David Warner and Kedar Jadhav and gave away only 12 runs at an economy rate of three. Moreover, he clocked in excess of 150 km/h on four instances, 151.71 km/h being his highest and broke the IPL 2021 fastest delivery record eight times on Wednesday night.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra had a hilarious message to Nortje’s speed in the match in Dubai. “Over-speeding ka challan kato #SeriousPace”, Chopra tweeted.
Over-speeding ka challan kato #SeriousPace https://t.co/6U3p8eOGsZ
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 22, 2021
Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant was also pleased by the performance of his bowling attack on SRH. “It’s a good bowling performance because we thought 150-160 would have been a good total, so 130-something was a good score to restrict them to. We have one of the quickest bowlers in the world so I think they're great assets to have,” Pant said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The skipper was happy that they are carrying the momentum of the first phase. “We discussed that we had a good first phase, and we are happy to start the second phase this way. We said the same thing about focusing on the process and giving it 100 per cent every day.”
Nortje, who missed out the first phase in India, also seemed satisfied with his Player of the Match performance. “Missing out in the first half was disappointing. It was good to have a good start to the tournament for me. Looking at the first game here, it was good to see some grass and then yesterday’s big score – didn’t know what to expect. It was good to keep things simple in the end.”
Asked about Warner's dismissal, Nortje played it down. “I don’t really focus on who I'm getting out, but I'm happy I contributed to the team's win,” he said.
