SA vs SL: Did Anrich Nortje make a veiled attack on IPL 2024 pitches after 4/7 performance?

Source: Inside Sport India
Author: Madhav Agarwal

SA vs SL: In the T20 World Cup match against Sri Lanka, pacer Anrich Nortje went on to produce one of the best bowling figures for South Africa.

The SA vs SL match was a memorable one for the South African team, as they started the T20 World Cup in a rather convincing fashion, winning by six wickets. After bowling out the Sri Lankan team for 77, they chased down the target in only16.2 overs. Pacer Anrich Nortje was the star, with his career-best figures of 4/7, where he had an economy rate of 1.80 in the entire match.

This is in stark contrast to what he had managed to do in the IPL 2024 for the Delhi Capitals. Of course, everyone still remembers how MS Dhoni had slammed him for 20 runs in an over. Apart from that too, he had picked up only seven wickets in the six matches he played, with an economy of 13.36.

On being asked if the low-scoring match was a poor advertisement for cricket in the US, Anrich Nortje didn't really agree. "I thought the game was great," Nortje said. "The entertainment was there. I thought the people were there. It was a brilliant spectacle. It was brilliant to see everyone, to hear the voices, the noise, the cheering. I thought it was a great day for cricket.

He continued, "It doesn't always mean, correct me if I'm wrong, there needs to be 20 sixes in a game to make it entertaining. There's still a lot of strategy that goes into the game. There's a lot of skill that goes into the game, whether it's sixes or fast bowlers or spinners, however it might be.

"So, I thought the game was a brilliant game. It was still a close game at the end of the day, another wicket or two, and things might have been different. We might have been in a little bit more trouble.

"It is great to be in New York. It's great to be playing cricket in the US and...we're excited for what's to come. We've enjoyed the facilities; we've enjoyed the sort of getting around exploring as well. So, yeah, it's brilliant and we are enjoying it."

In format dominated by the batsmen, if there are 127 dots in the match, then are questions bound to be raised on the pitch for sure. But Anrich Nortje once again defended it by saying, "I don't think there's anything wrong with the wickets," he said. "It's [allowed to be] nice for bowlers as well. We are also allowed to get some sort of assistance. It's different to what guys have been used to for the last few months or years. There's a little bit more in the wicket for the bowlers and I don't see anything wrong with that.

"When it's flat, people want to see sixes...so the wheels should turn a little bit somewhere. I don't know what to expect in the next few weeks. It might get a little bit flatter. It might get a little bit slower, faster. Who knows? I'm not the expert on it, but I think our biggest thing is just to sort of adapt to whatever gets thrown in front of us in the next game again. See in the first over what to expect and try and adjust as best as possible."