‘Over-speeding ka challan kato’ – Aakash Chopra lauds Anrich Nortje for generating serious pace in DCvsSRH match

Anrich Nortje had gone unsold in the IPL 2020 auction at his base price of INR 50 lakhs. But since then, his fortunes have changed. Chris Woakes pulled out from the tournament and the Delhi Capitals roped him in as a replacement. In 16 matches, the South Africa fast bowler picked up 22 wickets and became the second-highest wicket-taker for his team after Kagiso Rabada.

However, Nortje had to wait for eight games before he got his first chance in IPL 2021. The DC team management didn’t find him a suitable candidate for the India leg of the T20 league. But he grabbed the grabbed the limelight in DC’s first match in the UAE leg. On Wednesday, Nortje became the Player of the Match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

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.

In fact, in the previous game against the Orange Army, he managed to bowl the top eight fastest deliveries of the tournament. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra had a hilarious message to Nortje’s speed in the match in Dubai.

Chopra’s tweet

Over-speeding ka challan kato 🙈🤷‍♂️ #SeriousPace https://t.co/6U3p8eOGsZ

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 22, 2021

I wanted to bring the energy, says Anrich Nortje

After producing the match-winning performance, Nortje talked about keeping things “simple” on a pitch that had a green tinge on it. Capitals’ skipper Rishabh Pant was also over the moon, having “one of the quickest bowlers in the world” in their ranks.

“Obviously missing out on the first half of the tournament… Personally I wanted to bring the energy. Looking at the first game of the tournament, we decided it was nice to see some grass. Nice to have some sort of assistance, we didn’t have to do too much; just keep it simple. I don’t focus on that [getting the big wickets],” Nortje was quoted as saying after the game.

“Very happy with this performance. We had a good first phase… Happy to start this way. We want to focus on the process [is what Ponting says]. It was a pretty good bowling… our bowlers did a pretty good job to restrict them. We have one of the quickest bowlers in the world. Pretty happy as the skipper,” Pant said.