Growing up, Nandre Burger wanted to be Roger Federer. The best part of his childhood was spent watching countless videos of the Swiss, trying to absorb the grace and the geometry. Then a back injury ended the tennis. He flirted with squash. His father made him try cricket. Up until that point, Burger’s association with the game was mostly his backyard wall. When he wasn’t volleying a tennis ball against it, he would draw stumps on the surface and try to copy Dale Steyn. He played cricket with his friends, but beyond that, he had no ambition to be a professional cricketer. He was fifteen when he enrolled at Wits University to study sports psychology. It was there that he met Neil Levenson. *** Unlike Rabada, Ngidi, Jansen, Nortje — South Africa’s recent production line of fast bowlers who came through the system young — Burger wasn’t a fast bowler at all until Levenson found him. He was clocking 127, 128 kmph. Good enough for a club bowler. Levenson saw something else. “I felt that he could be much more than he presented,” he told Chadwickdrive. In their first session, Levenson said something Burger couldn’t quite believe. “Neil said to me, ‘You could play professional cricket and bowl at 140kph.’” In the weeks that followed, Levenson spent hours reworking Burger’s action. It started with walking through it. There were sessions where Burger walked through the action blindfolded. Enoch Nkwe, now Director of Cricket at Cricket South Africa, was part of those formative years too. It took years. A first-class debut came in 2018, by which time he was clocking 135. The Test cap arrived in 2023, at twenty-seven — unusual even by the standards of a country that produces fast bowlers the way others produce spin. 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 🎶 Nandre Burger 🤝 Jofra Archer #RR fans, how was that for a start? 😉 Updates ▶️ https://t.co/UzbuFk5G26#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #RRvCSK | @rajasthanroyals pic.twitter.com/iqLU8yIgcX — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 30, 2026 There is a tradition now between Burger and Levenson. Whenever he touches a new milestone in speed, he sends his coach a text. The last one was when he clocked 150 kmph. “Nandre can be one of the best quick bowlers in the world and that is what we are working on,” Levenson says. *** Before Rajasthan Royals sat down to decide on their retentions ahead of the last IPL auction, they faced a question. Burger had been bought in 2024 at a base price of 50 lakh. In 2025, signed as a replacement for Sandeep Sharma at 3.5 crore, he couldn’t play a single game because of injury. With another injury-prone pacer in Jofra Archer already in the mix, they had their doubts.Story continues below this ad But a tall left-arm fast bowler capable of touching 150, with a sharp bouncer, a knuckleball and a toe-crushing yorker — the package was hard to pass on. With Australian and English pacers increasingly unavailable due to workload management, IPL franchises have been turning to South Africans — and their involvement in SA20 gives them first-hand scouting knowledge. Chennai Super Kings had been circling Burger, drawn by his association with Joburg Super Kings. Rajasthan held on. On a cool evening in Guwahati, against Chennai in the season opener, they got their answer. *** The pitch offered a little — just enough for a bowler who knows what to do with assistance. Burger opened with the new ball ahead of Sandeep Sharma and needed no invitation. From his first over, the left-arm angle created problems Chennai’s top order hadn’t prepared for. The ball that got Sanju Samson was a thing of understated beauty — it landed on a length just outside leg stump, found late seam movement, and Samson, who had been looking to work through the on side, was beaten by the pacy deviation he didn’t expect. Natural variation, nothing manufactured. The kind of delivery that looks simple on television and is tough to hit at the crease.Story continues below this ad Then came the bouncer to Ayush Mhatre. The nineteen-year-old had walked in with the confidence of a man who had earned his place in the eleven. Burger sent one skidding past his nose — the kind that arrives faster than it appears, that rises when you expect it to hold. Mhatre had no answer; he shut his eyes and ducked, putting up his arms as a face-shield, and the ball brushed the gloves. Sarfaraz Khan, watching from the other end, began looking for ways to unsettle Burger — moving across his crease, or rushing down the track, trying to disrupt the length. Also Read | Swapping Roger Federer for Dale Steyn, how Nandre Burger became South Africa cricket’s ‘next big thing’ Four overs. Twenty-six runs. Two wickets. Man of the Match. When asked about his plan, Burger kept it simple. “Plan to Sanju — plan to all batters was to get them out. One to Sanju saw some natural variation, that’s all I can say.” With teams now looking to maximise the powerplay, bowlers like Burger offer the perfect antidote — raw pace and left-arm angle where others offer cutters and hope. Burger and Archer sharing the new ball, if both stay fit, is the kind of pairing that can define a powerplay and, by extension, a season. A boy who wanted to be Federer. A coach who saw 140 in a body clocking 127. Blindfolded walkthroughs. A text message sent at 150 kmph. Levenson is still waiting for the next text. It might just read 155.
Nandre Burger: How a tennis-obsessed teenager became the IPL’s lethal new-ball weapon
