Nortje also explained why Shane Watson struggles against "consistent" Patel.
Delhi Capitals (DC) speedster Anrich Nortje has heaped high praise on his teammate Akshar Patel while terming the all-rounder as an “awesome bowler” following his tight spell against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 7th game of the IPL 2020 in Dubai on Friday (September 25).
In the DC v CSK IPL 13 clash, Patel was the most economical bowler, finishing with figures of 1/18 in his four overs and dismissed the Australia all-rounder Shane Watson. The left-arm spinner dismissed Watson for the sixth time in the IPL on Friday.
After DC’s 44-run win over CSK, the DC pacer Nortje, who himself performed brilliantly with the ball, taking two wickets giving away just 21 runs in four overs, lauded Patel and explained why the batsmen struggle against the Indian spinner.
The South African bowler believes that Akshar is consistent and very clear in his plans – that’s the main reason why batsmen including CSK’s Watson tend to struggle against the spinner.
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Nortje said at the post-match press conference: “I just think Axar is pretty consistent, he is an awesome bowler and especially it's nice to be able to use him in the powerplay, he is very clear in his plans and maybe that's what makes Watson struggle against him.”
On being asked whether the Dubai wicket got slower during the course of the match, the pacer replied: “It was skidding a bit later on, I wouldn’t say it slowed down, but I feel it quickened up a bit, it was a little stickier at the start, when we were bowling there was a little dew so that made the ball skid on, it might have quickened up.”
Meanwhile, DC has suffered a batting collapse in their first IPL 2020 game against Kings XI Punjab, but they were a bit cautious in the first six overs to not lose wickets in a cluster against CSK.
Explaining the same, Nortje said: “After the match against Kings XI Punjab, we just said to each other that we need to assess things a little better and the boys clearly showed that in the match against Chennai. They played really well at the front and we were able to build partnerships.”
He concluded, “We just needed to assess the things a little better, the boys assessed the conditions very well, once they started to get the feel of it, they were able to accelerate.”
Noteworthy, the Capitals will next lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2020 on Tuesday, September 29 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
(With ANI Inputs)