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South Africa and Delhi Capitals (DC) pacer Anrich Nortje completed 100 matches in T20 cricket on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old speedster reached this milestone during DC's Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the home arena of Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. In his 100th T20 match, Nortje gave away 35 runs in four overs and failed to take any wickets. He ended up with an economy rate of 8.80. He also contributed five runs with the bat. In 100 T20s, Nortje has taken 134 wickets at an average of 19.97 and an economy rate of 7.38. His best bowling figures in the format are 4/10. He has represented South Africa in 31 T20Is, having taken 38 wickets at an average of 19.52 at an economy rate of 7.14. His best bowling figures for the Proteas are 4/10. In 33 IPL matches so far, he has taken 45 wickets at an average of 22.98 and an economy rate of 8.23, with the best bowling figures of 3/33. His best season for DC was back in 2020, in which he took 22 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 23.27 and an economy rate of 8.39. He was the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament and played a key role in DC's runners-up finish. He has also represented Pretoria Capitals in SA20, South Africa's domestic franchise-based T20 league. In 11 matches in the inaugural edition, he took 20 wickets at an average of 13.25 and an economy rate of 6.18, with best figures of 3/18. As the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament this year, he played a key role in his side's runners-up finish, losing to Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final. Meanwhile, DC is at the bottom of the points table, having lost all four games. On the other hand, MI has climbed to the seventh spot in the points table, with one win and two losses in three matches. They have a total of two points. Coming to the match, after being put to bat first by MI, DC was bundled out for 172 in 19.4 overs. Skipper Warner (51 off 47 balls with six fours) and Axar Patel (54 off 25 balls with four boundaries and five sixes) were the top performers for DC with the bat as the rest of the line-up struggled to provide support to these two batters. Manish Pandey scored 26 in 18 balls with five fours forming a 43-run stand for the second wicket with Warner, while Axar formed a 67-run stand for the sixth wicket with Warner. Both of these stands were extremely crucial for DC. Piyush Chawla was the pick of the bowlers for MI, taking 3/22 in his four overs. Jason Behrendorff also took 3/23 in his three overs. Riley Meredith, who was playing his first game of IPL 2023, took 2/34 in 3.4 overs. Hritik Shokeen also got a wicket. In the chase of 173, skipper Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan gave an explosive start to the five-time champions. The duo stitched a stand of 71 runs in just 45 balls before Kishan departed for 31 off 26 balls with six fours. Tilak Verma continued to impress this season, forming a 68-run stand for the second wicket with Rohit before he was dismissed for 41 off 29 balls, with one fours and four sixes. Suryakumar Yadav's lean patch continued as he registered his fourth golden duck in the last seven innings in competitive cricket. Before falling to Mustafizur Rahman, Rohit scored his first IPL half-century in 24 innings, the longest gap for an opener in IPL. He made 65 off 45 balls with six fours and four sixes. The duo of Tim David (13*) and Cameron Green (17*) won the match for MI in a last-ball thriller, with the former surviving a run-out attempt while his side needed two runs in the final ball, completing the second run and winning the game for his side. Mukesh Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for DC, taking 2/30 in two overs. Mustafizur took 1/38 in four overs. Skipper Rohit was declared 'Player of the Match' for his half-century. Brief score: Delhi Capitals 172 (Axar Patel 54, David Warner 51; Jason Behrendorff 3-23) vs Mumbai Indians 173/4 (Rohit Sharma 65, Tilak Varma 41; Mukesh Kumar 2-30). (ANI)
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