IPL 2021: Hard Lengths Were Working For Us - Anrich Nortje Talks About His Successful Bowling Plans Against SRH

Delhi Capitals pacer Anrich Nortje bagged a couple of wickets versus the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday evening in Dubai.

The South African speedster first got rid of David Warner with a sharp short ball on the third ball of the innings, before returning to trap Kedar Jadhav lbw with a full-length delivery, finishing with outstanding figures of 4-0-12-2, as SRH could manage 134 runs.

Anrich Nortje, who didn’t feature at all in the first half of the season, said he had planned to bowl on the hard length against the SRH batters and felt that would work well on the Dubai pitch. He also opined on the difference in conditions in the UAE from that in Sri Lanka, where he had been bowling for the Proteas before coming to the IPL.

“It was good, nice to be out here in Dubai. Hard lengths were working for us and nice to stick to that plan. Personally, I was feeling very good, bit of different conditions there (in Sri Lanka) played a couple of games and it didn’t feel too bad,” Anrich Nortje said after SRH’s innings. 

Anrich Nortje, who holds the record for the fastest ball last season, said he isn’t thinking much about his pace and tries to keep things simple and bowl according to the situation and the surface.

“I don’t try to think about it (pace), just try and keep it simple. Done a lot of work over the years and the key is to quickly identify what’s working for me on the day, it’s been the major change over the last few years. The new ball might be a little different at night, it’s not the easiest of wickets if you bowl good lengths, just try and take advantage of the bad balls. The key thing is to not go chasing for boundaries,” he added.

Sunrisers Hyderabad put 134 on the board

After electing to bat first, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a poor start with the returning David Warner unable to handle Anrich Nortje and getting out for a 3-ball duck in the first over. Wriddhiman Saha tried to up the ante with a six off Kagiso Rabada, but the pacer had the last laugh with another short ball.

Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey steadied the ship for a while with a 30-ball 31-run stand during which the SRH skipper was dropped twice. In the 10th over, Axar Patel ended Williamson’s scratchy stay, during which he managed 18 runs off 26 balls.

Pandey followed Williamson to the dressing room in the next over courtesy of Rabada. Kedar Jadhav and Jason Holder too couldn’t adjust to the pace of the pitch.

It was only the late power-hitting of young Abdul Samad (28 off 21) and Rashid Khan (22 off 19) that helped SRH cross 130.

Also Read: IPL 2021: Watch – Anrich Nortje Gets The Big Wicket Of David Warner In The First Over