South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje was exceptional in the middle overs against Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign opener. Nortje registered a record-breaking four-wicket haul as South Africa bowled out Sri Lanka for 77. This is Sri Lanka’s lowest innings total in the format.
After Sri Lanka suffered a batting collapse of epic proportions, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan posted on X: “Not an ideal pitch for t20 cricket”. Many others thought that it is not the ideal advertisement of the T20 cricket in the US and pitches need to be more batting-friendly. But Nortje doesn’t feel the batters need to hit 20 sixes to make it an entertaining game.
"I thought the game was great," Nortje said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "I thought 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.
"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."
Nortje wants batters to adapt
For T20 World Cup 2024, ten drop-in pitches were brought to New York. Four of them are being used for the T20 World Cup whereas the rest have been installent for the nets at a training facility.
"We didn't know it [the pitches] is all from the same [time]," Nortje said as he had a fair idea of who the pitch will play. "We sort of assumed that they're coming from the same, let me call it, factory. But yes, it was a little bit up and down in the nets as well. We need to train as well as the batters also need to train. It's not always nice to go out and face balls jumping up, I think you adapt to it on the day and rather work on what you want to in the nets. And that's why I think one or two of the guys eventually walked out, but they were still batting facing us. Also you don't want to get hit. And a day before the game, you want to sort of go through your routines as a batter and they were fresh and spicy as well."
Batters’ tough day at the office
Nortje conceded just seven runs from his quota of four overs and bagged four wickets. South Africa batters were troubled as well and lost four wickets. They achieved the target in the 17th over. South Africa will now play the Netherlands at the same venue on June 8.
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