Lungisani Ngidi

Lungisani Ngidi is a South African right-arm fast bowler known for his versatility. The 21 year old is comfortable in opening the bowling as well bowling death overs. Born on 29^th March 1996 in Durban, the South African has the capability to bowl at speeds over 140 km/h consistently and can trouble the batsmen with his short pitch deliveries.

Table of Contents

1. Career
2. Background

Career

Domestic Career

Ngidi began playing at a very young age and was involved in provincial cricket starting from the U13 format. He started playing cricket at the age of 13 in the provincial age-group cricket, where he represented the Kwa-Zulu Natal Under-19 team and performed really for them.

He made his debut in South Africa’s domestic circuit in 2015 playing for Northerns. Soon after his debut for the team, Ngidi was included in Northerns T20 squad for 2015 Africa T20 Cup.

He finished as the second highest wicket taker in the tournament, taking 6 wickets at an average of 12.5. Consequently, he was named the Africa T20 cup player of the year in 2016. Following an exceptional performance in the 2015 Africa T20 cup, Ngidi was bought by Titans for the 2015-2016 season. Titans ended up winning both the seasons while Ngidi emerged as a central figure.

IPL Career

Riding high on his domestic and international career's performances, Ngidi, in January 2018, was bought by the Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 IPL auction for ₹50 lakhs ($78,650). He played 7 matches in the season and took 11 wickets in CSK's fairytale return to the IPL fold.

However, Lungi Ngidi was ruled out of IPL 2019 with an injury before the start of the season. Chennai Super Kings had then picked Kiwi bowling all-rounder Scott Kuggeleijn as his replacement. He is expected to don the canary yellow of CSK in 2020 and prove to his naysayers that he has finally put to bed his string of injuries.

International Career

T20I Career

Ngidi’s international debut came in the T20 format in the year 2017 at against Sri Lanka. Bowling brilliantly, he took two wickets to carry South Africa to a win and was awarded the Man of the Match award for the same.

Test Career

Ngidi’s Test debut came against India in 2018 at the age of 21. Impressing again on his debut, Ngidi turned heads with his pace and bounce. He took 6 wickets in the second innings which included the vital wicket of the Indian captain, Virat Kohli. Ngidi was awarded the Man of the Match awards for his 6 wickets for 39 runs in the second innings.

ODI career

Following a phenomenal Test debut, Ngidi was also included for the ODI series against India. However he was expensive, giving away 47 runs in 6 overs without taking a wicket. Injuries has been part and parcel of Ngidi's career and his hamstring flare-up resulted in the speedster missing a few matches in the showpiece 2019 World Cup - a tournament to forget for himself and his team.

Background

Ngidi belongs to a modest family background as his father, Jerome Ngidi works in the maintenance department at the Kloof Junior School. Since his childhood, he has been a bright, obedient and well-disciplined person.

During his school days, he wanted to be a rugby player, but as he suffered a lot of injuries throughout his school and, to avoid further risk, he dropped the idea of becoming a rugby player and started focusing on cricket.