The merits and menace of Burger ‎that singed India

 

The merits and menace of Burger ‎that singed India

As difficult as it is to believe, Nandre Burger could kill you at work. He didn't want to believe it himself when he stood and spoke to reporters at Centurion on Thursday, a smidgeon of sunblock in his ear, a paper cup and wooden stirrer in his hand, the look of a lamb on his fresh, modestly moustachioed, bearded face.

"I don't think I'd want to do that, but... I can't describe how that feels, and I never want to experience that," Burger said, before attempting to answer the admittedly leading question: "It's nice to be able to strike fear into someone, if you can put it that way." As he finished his response, cold flashed through his eyes. Perhaps there was a fast bowler hidden beneath all that niceness after all.

There certainly is when the 1.88-metre Burger thunders to the crease and unleashes 150-kilometer-per-hour deliveries with his left arm. In both innings of the Centurion Test, he was too hot to handle for Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, and he also dismissed Shubman Gill and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Burger was on a hat trick when he chugged in to Virat Kohli on Thursday. India's modern-day icon was 49 not out and his team's last hope of forcing South Africa to bat again. The short-pitched ball left Kohli and whistled past the shoulder of his bat close enough to give the impression that the edge had been found. "In all honesty, I wanted to bowl it a bit fuller," Burger went on to say.

Nonetheless, 3/50 and 4/33 represent a respectable debut. Was there a lovely wicket among them? "Each wicket could be your last." As a result, every last wicket will be my favourite."

Burger, 28, could have never taken his first Test wicket. He came close to quitting cricket for tennis when he was 17, and he has been plagued by injuries - he didn't play for a week short of a year from October 2021 to October 2022 due to a lumbar stress fracture. "It's tough to miss games and watch everyone else play, but that's made me appreciate my teammates more; being happy for other people, being selfless," he went on to say. "It made me a lot better in that area. “But being back on the pitch is th Burger's 41st first-class match was the Centurion Test. Given the large crowd and the magnitude of South Africa's thumping victory, by an innings and 32 runs in three days despite the loss of nearly 50 overs due to rain, this game was unlike any other. "Every wicket you take is for 60-million South Africans, so it feels a lot different to other first-class cricket," Burger went on to say.

He wore shirt No. 71 in the Centurion Test, but he might want to switch to 13, which is currently worn by squadmate Wiaan Mulder. Burger made his international debut in all three formats between December 14 and December 26, taking two wickets in his first 13 Test deliveries.e best feeling."

South Africa launched an all-out assault on Centurion, which paid off handsomely. India couldn't last more than 101.5 overs in both innings on a challenging but far from unfair pitch that allowed Dean Elgar to make 185 and KL Rahul 101, as well as Marco Jansen's unbeaten 84, Virat Kohli's 76, and David Bedingham's 56.

Keshav Maharaj is expected to return for the second Test at Newlands, which begins on Wednesday. Burger has done more than enough to keep his position, but someone must make way for Maharaj. And as the pack's junior member, that someone could be Burger.