Delhi Capital fans will have been devastated to see that the star pacer was absent from their team’s most recent match on Friday night.
The South African fast bowler has been playing a key role in DC’s recent IPL resurgence, but recently left abruptly to return to South Africa. The reason given was a ‘personal emergency’, according to an official statement released on the Capital’s social media.
But when will Anrich Nortje return to the IPL?
We look at everything we know so far about Anrich Nortje’s IPL return.
Anrich Nortje emergency: Everything we know
An official statement from the Delhi Capitals on Anrich Nortje’s situation has stated:
“Owing to a personal emergency, Delhi Capitals fast bowler Anrich Nortje had to leave for South Africa late on Friday night. He will be unavailable for this evening’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.”
The statement was issued on Saturday evening.
No details are known about Nortje’s emergency – it’s assumed to be a family-related matter, given his travel back to South Africa.
The situation was also very abrupt. On Friday, Nortje posted to his personal Instagram about the Delhi Capital awards, saying he “had some good fun”.
One would assume that at this stage, just a few hours before his flight, Nortje was not aware of the emergency that would see him travel back to South Africa so suddenly.
When will Anrich Nortje be returning to IPL?
Short answer is, we don’t know.
However, communication from the Capitals has given us some clues.
Most likely, DC only have four games remaining in the season, given they are at long odds to reach the playoffs stage. Considering this, if Nortje’s personal emergency had been of such a nature where it would require some time away from the game, it’s likely that DC would have announced at the same time that Nortje would not be taking any further part in the IPL 2023.
The Delhi Capitals did not say that Nortje would be out for the rest of the IPL 2023.
This has to be taken as a promising sign, and indicates that there is at least a reasonable chance that the fast bowler will return for some of Delhi’s remaining games.
In saying that, it must be noted the toll that flights to and from South Africa will have on Nortje’s physical conditioning. The time difference, inability to train and get appropriate rest will have an impact on Nortje.
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Even if Nortje does rush back from South Africa, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be in the right state – physically and mentally – to play in DC’s next fixture against CSK on Thursday 11 May.
