‘Had a fair time in the game’: Delhi Capitals coach defends Anrich Nortje after 25 runs

Delhi Capitals bowling coach James Hopes believes that the team’s pace spearhead Anrich Nortje has improved over time after his recent return to cricket after six months. Things will get better. Nortje, who scored 48 runs in four overs on Thursday night, was sent to the cleaners by Rajasthan Royals’ Riyan Parag after the death. RR won the IPL match by 12 runs while scoring 185 runs with a defense of 5 runs. Nortje, who has not played competitive cricket since September, played just three domestic T20 matches earlier this month heading into the IPL and failed to beat Yorkers and reach the level he is now known for.

“I’m not going to say too much bad things about the bowlers. They just tried to execute. Did a good job with the ball in the first half, but it kind of got away from us in the last five,” Hopps said after his side’s 12th win. Losing to RR, their complexion changed in the final part of the bowling innings.

“This is the first time Nortje has been at this level for a while. He’s had his fair share of games but if you look at all the numbers, he’s one of the most important death bowlers in the game. We believe that and he will keep getting better,” former Australia medium pacer Hopes said in defense of the Proteas pacer.

Hopps also felt that just like the bowling, the team’s batting in the bottom ten also faltered after a positive start.

“With the bat, we started really well, we were on top of the game and then fell a little bit behind in the middle. They pretty much bowled us 10 overs of death bowling and executed it very well.” Hopps assessed, After losing the first two games, the final game was a problem for both teams.

“We need to sort out what we did at the end of the game. It was a game, I’m not even counting the first game because we had to come up with a bowler to get the extra batsman and then Ethan Te (Sharma) went down, so I wouldn’t judge us too harshly on one match.” A lot of the batting in the middle order will depend on the return of Rishabh Pant Performance.

“We also need to tweak our middle order in terms of batting. We tend to get into some trouble at this stage. We know the answer to that is Rishabh Pant,” Hopps said.

“He’s already played two games after a long break and I think you’re going to see some very special things from him in the next few weeks,” he concluded.

DC will take on Chennai Super Kings at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

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