Nandre Burger (born 11 August 1995) is a South African

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays for the

South African cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...

and

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in South African domestic cricket. He has described himself as an accidental cricketer as he endured a serendipitous path to cricketing journey.

Early life

Burger played tennis and squash during his teenage years before switching to cricket. He was already ranked among the top tennis players in the age-group regional tennis championships at the tender age of fifteen. He also competed in squash national championships at the age of 17. However, his squash stint was cut short due to a prolonged persistent back injury layoff and as a result he switched his focus to cricket. He even developed ambitions to be playing at

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when he began seriously compromising himself about taking tennis as his career pathway. He received a full scholarship to pursue psychology major at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

in 2014. It was at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he decided to try his luck in cricket and he earned a trial after gaining admission at the university. He was coached by Neil Levenson at his university, under whom he received guidance and learned the skillsets. Neil Levenson especially worked closely with Burger to rectify technical aspects regarding alignment from the landing foot to the release point. Burger has told that cricket has always been his backup option after academics. He then received an opportunity to become a net bowler for

Highveld Lions The DP World Lions is a professional cricket team in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The home venue is the DP World Wanderers Stadium which is situated in Illovo Sandton on Corlett Drive. The team plays in the CSA 4-Day Series first class cricket comp ...

in South African domestic competition. He received his first franchise contract from

Cape Cobras The Cape Cobras are a former franchise cricket team representing the Western Province, Boland, and South Western Districts regions in what was the South African domestic franchise era. The team's home venues were based between Newlands ...

during the 2016–2017 season, and it was a tough pill to swallow, especially when he was faced with the dilemma of whether to complete his psychology degree or fulfill his cricket ambitions. He made the difficult decision to drop out of his degree as he decided to discontinue his higher studies and left Johannesburg immediately to move to Cape Town as his Cape Cobras contract meant he should be readily available in Cape Town.

Domestic career

He made his first-class debut for

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

in the 2015–16 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup on 11 February 2016. He made his T20 debut for Gauteng in the 2016-17 CSA Provincial T20 Challenge on 14 February 2016. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for Gauteng in the

2016–17 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge The 2016–17 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge was a List A cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 9 October 2016 to 2 April 2017. The competition was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams and Namibia. The ...

on 26 February 2017. He was the leading wicket-taker in the

2017–18 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge The 2017–18 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge was a List A cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 15 October 2017 to 8 April 2018. The competition was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams and Namibia. The ...

tournament for Gauteng, with 19 dismissals in seven matches. In July 2018, he was named in the Cricket South Africa Emerging Squad. In September 2018, he was named in Gauteng's squad for the

2018 Africa T20 Cup The 2018 Africa T20 Cup was the fourth and final edition of the Africa T20 Cup, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. It was held in South Africa in September 2018, as a curtain-raiser to the 2018–19 South African domestic season. Provincial side Kw ...

. He was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with eleven dismissals in six matches. He joined

Cape Town Blitz Cape Town Blitz were a franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team was based at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town. Cape Town Blitz played in the first two editions of the MLS in 20 ...

side as an injury replacement to Anrich Nortje for the latter stages of the

2018 Mzansi Super League The 2018 Mzansi Super League was the inaugural edition of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 (T20) franchise cricket tournament in South Africa. It started on 16 November and finished on 16 December 2018. Six teams played a total of thirty-t ...

. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the

Nelson Mandela Bay Giants Nelson Mandela Bay Giants were a franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team were based at the St George's Park Cricket Ground in Port Elizabeth. Nelson Mandela Bay Giants played in the first ...

team for the

2019 Mzansi Super League The 2019 Mzansi Super League, also known as the MSL 2.0, was the second edition of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 (T20) franchise cricket tournament in South Africa. It started on 8 November and ended on 16 December 2019. Jozi Stars wer ...

tournament. In April 2021, he was named in

's squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa. He sustained a lumbar stress fracture which kept him out of cricket related activities for over a year until October 2022. On 19 December 2023, he was bought by

Rajasthan Royals The Rajasthan Royals, also known as RR, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight franchises, the team is owned by Manoj ...

for 50 lakh

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to play in IPL 2024.

International career

In January 2021, he was named in South Africa's

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) squad for their series against Pakistan. Following his selection for South Africa's T20I squad against Pakistan in January 2021, Nandre Burger made his international debut in all three formats—T20I, ODI, and Test—within 13 days against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in December 2023. He made his debut with figures of 3/50 and 4/33. In March 2024, he earned his first national contract from Cricket South Africa ahead of the 2024–25 season. In May 2024, he was named as a reserve player in South Africa’s squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Nandre 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Krugersdorp Cricketers from Gauteng South African cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century South African sportsmen Cape Cobras cricketers Cape Town Blitz cricketers Gauteng cricketers Joburg Super Kings cricketers Lions cricketers Nelson Mandela Bay Giants cricketers South Western Districts cricketers Western Province cricketers Rajasthan Royals cricketers