Looking To Take It Match By Match This Season: Anrich Nortje

Delhi Capitals fast bowler Anrich Nortje said on Friday that he will be looking to take it to match by match in the second half of the IPL 2021 in the UAE starting from September 19. Nortje, who came from Sri Lanka after playing for South Africa in the recent white-ball tour, picked up 22 wickets in 16 matches for Delhi in IPL 2020 and was instrumental in helping the side reach the final of the tournament.

"It was here where things started to happen for me in the IPL. But I am looking to take it to match by match this season. A lot is coming up, even after the IPL. We have to try and remember what we did here the last time we were here and try and implement that again. Hopefully, we can repeat what we did in the UAE the last time we were here," said Nortje in a release issued by the franchise.

The 27-year-old believes that the second half of the IPL 2021 will be completely different from the first half of the tournament in India.

"What worked at one place is not going to work at another place so we have to take it game by game. The upcoming games in the UAE are going to be completely different from the games we had earlier in the season. Maybe teams will field different strategies in the second half of the tournament. We have to be switched on now and just be ready."

Nortje thinks that playing the second half of IPL 2021 before the T20 World Cup in the UAE is certainly a big advantage for all T20I players participating in the mega event. "It's a massive advantage to play the IPL before the T20 World Cup. We have a chance to acclimatize to the conditions and get first-hand experience of the kind of wickets here in the UAE. The sooner we get the information about the kind of wickets here, the better it will be for all of us. I think each team is looking to assess everything as much as possible, but, firstly we have to assess the conditions for the IPL as it certainly is a big tournament in itself and then we will get to the T20 World Cup."

Table-toppers Delhi Capitals will start their second leg of IPL 2021 by taking on bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad on September 22 in Dubai.