It’s very much obvious for someone who lives and breathes cricket to assume Dale Steyn when we speak of a South African with raw pace, accuracy, swing and of course, the famous headband and those aggressive celebrations. Very little do we realize that there’s someone else who now has started to carry that legacy forward with rather more traits and skill set than Steyn ever produced. At a very tender age of 23, Gerald Coetzee has made his name on the international stage and there wouldn’t be any better time than now for the sports fraternity to know more about the youngster.
Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Gerald grew up participating and showing interests in all the possible competitive sports. While rugby, tennis and cricket remained his all time favorites. Being slightly better at the sport, Gerald Coetzee made up his mind to pursue a career in cricket.
FIRST GLIMPSES
In 2018, the world had its first glimpse of the arrival of the ‘karate-kid’, a name which he received due to his headband. He first was seen at the U-19 World Cup. With his raw pace, Gerald Coetzee took the tournament by storm by picking up wickets for the South African contingent at regular intervals and himself being the second highest wicket taker at the tournament. His best figures at the U-19 World Cup came against New Zealand wherein he went on finishing with bowling figures of 5 for 32. Gerald Coetzee went on taking 8 wickets in the four games he played.
DOMINATING THE DOMESTIC SEASON.
Gerald Coetzee, a 17 year old kid was roped in by the Knights in 2019, a Division 2 cricket team representing the province of Free State in South African domestic competitions. He made an instant impact in his debut game grabbing 4 wickets for 53 runs and dismantling the opposition. The young fast bowler maintained his impression throughout the season and went on to be recognized as the ‘Knights Player Of The Season’ as he received the award for scalping 17 wickets in just the 4 games he played.
ANNOUNCING HIMSELF ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
The year 2022 opened the doors for international duties for Gerald Coetzee. He joined the South African squad for the t20 tour of England and Ireland. Coetzee had his red ball debut against the West Indies in February 2023 where he went on taking 3 wickets.
His white ball career began in March 2023 as he played his first ODI against the West Indies. He made his t20 debut in August 2023 against Australia right before the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
2023 – THE TURNING POINT
In September 2023, Gerald Coetzee was named in the squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. With pacers Anrich Nortje and Sisanda Magala injured, this proved to be the best opportunity for Gerald Coetzee to spell trouble to the opposition batting units with his lethal pace. Coetzee did stand tall to everyone’s expectations grabbing 20 wickets in the 8 games he played, making him the first South African bowler to take more than 17 wickets in a World Cup.
The year 2023 saw some well crafted performances for Coetzee as he went on grabbing 47 wickets in total.
IPL AUCTION 2024.
At a base price of two crore it was first the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who showed interest in the young fast bowling sensation. Later, it was a tug of war between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings who desperately desired to have Coetzee in their squads. There was a continuous raise of paddles by the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and then the Lucknow Super Giants as well.
In the end, it was the Mumbai Indians who had their first buy of the IPL 2024 auction in the form of Gerald Coetzee. The speedster from South Africa was picked for INR 5.0 crore. The raw pace talent is now all set to don the famous Blue and Gold and take Wankhede by storm. The deck at Mumbai would be a perfect canvas for him to display his skills due to the bounce it offers. The city of dreams is all set to welcome this raw and upcoming talent with open arms and there’s no wonder that the Mumbai Paltan would be anticipating some fiery bowling display from the speedster.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Atharva Shetye.
