I take ideas from my fellow batsmen to take wickets : Nortje

For Enrique Nortje, the start of the first phase of IPL 2021 was not very special. First he came false Covid positive and then when he became available for selection, Steve Smith and Amit Mishra were sidelined to make him fit in the team. That’s why he sat in the dugout for the first seven matches of the team. But the start of the UAE leg of the IPL was a comeback for him. In two matches, he took four wickets for just 34 runs in 8 overs. In the last season, he has taken 22 wickets on these same pitches in UAE.

Nortje said last year’s experience is helping her now. “During practice, I talk to my team’s batsmen a lot and we try to share as much information as possible so that we can help each other,” he said. Based on their inputs, I make my plans.

Unlike other T20 bowlers, Nortje bowls the length of the Test match in T20 matches and is finding success. After the match against Rajasthan Royals, he said, “Today’s wicket was very slow. I spoke to Shreyas Iyer after the first innings, who was our best scorer (42 runs). Iyer said that hitting straight is getting difficult and I again tried to get the Rajasthan batsmen to do the same. We bowled good lengths in the line outside the off-stump and it paid off. You don’t always need to bowl slower in T20 matches.

Nortje said that apart from the batsmen, he also keeps talking to his bowling partner Kagiso Rabada, which also benefits him. He said, “We have been playing together for a long time.” We keep talking about cricket and learn from each other. It is a pleasure to be around them.