Anrich Nortje, Delhi Capitals pacer said he was “proud” to be a part of the set-up but expressed “disappointed” on not being able to clinch the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 trophy.
Delhi Capitals’ IPL 2021 campaign ended with a hurtful defeat as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) got over the line courtesy of Rahul Tripathi’s six-off Ravichandran Ashwin in the final over.
Anrich Nortje Feels Proud Of Delhi Capitals Achievement And Disappointed To Not Win Elusive IPL 2021 Title
Anrich Nortje shared pictures from his IPL 2021 campaign and thanked fans who supported Delhi Capitals.
“In sport and in life, things move so rapidly. Can’t believe how time went by with this amazing bunch. Proud of what we achieved and disappointed that we couldn’t get the trophy. Thank you to everyone involved, especially the fans for sticking with us,” Anrich Nortje tweeted.
Delhi Capitals brought in Anrich Nortje as a replacement for Chris Woakes ahead of IPL 2020 and the South African speedster, in his maiden IPL season, delivered the goods for Delhi Capitals, scalping as many as 22 wickets in 16 games. The right-arm pacer proved his worth yet again in IPL 2021 by picking 12 scalps for Delhi Capitals in 8 games averaging a mere 15.58.
Shimron Hetmyer Thanks Delhi Capitals For Giving Him Opportunity To Represent The Franchise
West Indies star batter Shimron Hetmyer thanked Delhi Capitals for giving him the opportunity to represent the side in the IPL 2021. Shimron Hetmyer managed to score 242 runs in 14 IPL 2021 games averaging a decent 34.57 at an excellent strike rate of 168.05- the best of the season.
“Thanks to @DelhiCapitals for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to represent you guys really enjoyed it,” Hetmyer tweeted.
After the defeat, Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting said he would like to retain each and every player on his team for the IPL 2022.
“I would like to keep everyone, to be honest. We have got this terrific group of people at the Delhi Capitals. The playing staff and the coaches have done an amazing job for the last couple of seasons and I think our performances so to speak for themselves,” said Ponting during the post-match press conference.
Ricky Ponting also said Delhi Capitals failed to utilize the powerplay and were eight to 10 runs short of the good first six overs score in the game. Needing 136 runs to win, KKR was off to a brisk start, courtesy of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer. The pair cashed in on all the scoring opportunities but DC though managed to get Venkatesh Iyer out when he and Shubman Gill were inching closer to a hundred-run stand.
While Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill added 27 runs together, DC continued to put in a fight and scalped three wickets, conceding just three runs as KKR moved from 123/1 to 126/4 at the end of the 18th over – an over where Kagiso Rabada conceded just a run and picked up a wicket. Anrich Nortje then had the better of Eoin Morgan in the penultimate over as DC pushed KKR to score 7 runs in the final over.
Ravichandran Ashwin then scalped two wickets, dismissing Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine – in the first four balls of the last over. However, with 6 runs to get from the last 2 balls, Rahul Tripathi creamed a maximum to help KKR seal a place in the final.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 136/7 (Venkatesh Iyer 55, Shubman Gill 46; Kagiso Rabada 2/23) beat Delhi Capitals 135/5 (Shikhar Dhawan 36, Shreyas Iyer 30*; Varun Chakravarthy 2/26) by 3 wickets.