IPL 2020 | Nortje’s skills and control along with his pace makes him threatening, opines Ian Bishop
Nortje has impressed all with 10 wickets for DC this season
|IPL
After Nortje’s impressive display, where he picked up 2/33, Ian Bishop has opined that his skills and control alongside his startling pace makes him a threatening bowler. On the other hand, he also stated that Shikhar Dhawan should be playing with a lot more freedom and not think too much.
Delhi’s winning run came to a halt against Mumbai Indians, where their batting unit could not put up a good score on board. Equally, their bowling unit too couldn’t pick up wickets in equal intervals, leaving the game too late for them to break open. In particular, their key pacer Anrich Nortje ended up wicketless, prompting a few raised eyebrows.Â
However, he turned it around in prime fashion, despite being targetted by English opener Jos Buttler. Despite Buttler scoring 14 runs off the first five deliveries, Nortje’s pace was always on the north of 150 kmph. In the end, a 155 kmph accounted for an adventurous Buttler, who tried to scoop the delivery past the fine-leg fielder. His display certainly had impressed Ian Bishop, who opined that the Saffer’s skills and control along with his pace made him threatening.Â
“Having watched him in the Test series against England (pre-pandemic), I knew that he had the incredible pace to his arsenal. His skill-set and control that he has brought with that pace tonight and on top of that the character he showed to make a comeback against Jos Buttler was just outstanding. This was brilliant, it was outstanding from him to blow away Buttler after he attacked him that way,” said Ian Bishop in ESPNCricinfo’s post-match analysis.Â
On the other hand, former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta too was of the same point of view, revealing that it’s quite fascinating for him to see a pace bowler bowl with that threatening pace, which makes it hard for the batsmen.Â
“He bowled quick even then, it’s just he didn’t pick any wicket. Amazing to watch a bowler bowl at 155kmph. It’s just fascinating to see a fast bowler bowl that quick but the dedication and hard work just stands out,” added Deep Dasgupta.Â
Another stand-out performance for Delhi in their win against Rajasthan was the performance of southpaw Shikhar Dhawan. Against Mumbai, Dhawan did score an unbeaten 69 off 52 deliveries, at a strike-rate of 132.69, however, he couldn’t up the ante in the final overs. That cost them 10-15 runs in the game, which was the difference. However, this time around, the southpaw played a different innings, scoring 57 off just 33 balls, which boosted Delhi’s run-scoring in middle-overs.Â
“I would assume that more often than not, Shikhar Dhawan should know how to go about in this format. I don’t think too often you would have to go to him and tell him to do something. What I would like to see is him playing with freedom. If you play conservatively, you would end up second most of the times,” Bishop added.
