Image Credit- CSA
Rob Walter, South
Africa’s white-ball coach, will be closely monitoring Anrich Nortje and Gerald
Coetzee during the IPL this year in an effort to solidify his team’s selection
for the T20 World Cup.
After missing months of action due to injuries, Nortje and Coetzee are likely
to play in the IPL, providing an opportunity to gauge their fitness for a major
competition. In their 15-player touring team, South Africa may have at least
eight seam bowlers, including Nortje and Coetzee. The other bowlers are Kagiso
Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Ottniel Baartman, and
Lizaad Williams.
Nortje last
participated in a home series against Australia in September 2023, hence he has
only recently started playing again in the CSA’s T20 domestic competition. He
missed the full summer of home international cricket matches and the ODI World
Cup due to a stress fracture in his back. He opened the bowling for Warriors in
his comeback game against Kwa-Zulu Inland, costing just 12 runs over four
frugal overs, but he did not pick up a wicket. While he is still in South
Africa awaiting the impending birth of his first kid, it is possible that he
will play in another Warriors game this Sunday. Then, Nortje is going to the
Indian Premier League.
Coetzee has already
left for India, where the Mumbai Indians medical staff are taking care of him
as he heals from a groyne injury. After suffering a pelvic inflammation during
the Boxing Day Test against India, he was unable to play in the SA20 or the first
few rounds of the domestic T20 competition. In order to get playing time later
in the competition, it is anticipated that he will also not play in the IPL’s
early rounds.
But Walter will have
to keep an eye on other players as well. Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks,
Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Bjorn Fortuin, Baartman, and Williams are all
participating in the CSA T20 Challenge, which runs until the end of April. All
of them are also eligible to compete in the competition.
The T20 World Cup will begin on June 2 and South Africa will play three
Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) against the West Indies before naming their
squad at the end of April.