Lungisani Ngidi is a versatile right-arm medium bowler from South Africa. The 21-year-old will open the bowling attack as well as bowl death overs. The South African, who was born in Durban on March 29, 1996, can regularly bowl at speeds of over 140 km/h and can cause batsmen problems with his short pitch deliveries.
Ngidi comes from a humble family; his boss, Jerome Ngidi, works in the Kloof Junior School’s maintenance department. He has been a brilliant, obedient, and diligent person since childhood.
He used to be a rugby player when he was younger, but due to a series of injuries in his school years, he abandoned his dream of being a rugby player and instead focused on cricket.
Career
Domestic Career
Ngidi started playing cricket at a young age and has been active in provincial cricket since the U13 age group. He began playing cricket at the age of 13 in provincial age-group competitions, where he joined Kwa-Zulu Natal’s Under-19 team and excelled.
In 2015, he made his debut for Northerns in South Africa’s domestic league. Ngidi was named to Northerns T20 squad for the 2015 Africa T20 Cup shortly after making his debut for the club.
He ended the tournament as the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker, with 6 wickets at an average of 12.5. As a result, in 2016, he was voted Africa T20 Cup Player of the Year. Ngidi was purchased by Titans for the 2015-2016 season after an outstanding result in the 2015 Africa T20 Cup. The Titans went on to win both seasons, with Ngidi playing a key role.
IPL Career
Ngidi was purchased for 50 lakhs ($78,650) by the Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 IPL auction in January 2018, riding high on his domestic and international results. In CSK’s fairytale return to the IPL fold, he played 7 matches and took 11 wickets.
Lungi Ngidi, on the other hand, was ruled out of the IPL 2019 season due to injury before the season began. Scott Kuggeleijn, a Kiwi bowling all-rounder, was then selected as his replacement by Chennai Super Kings. In 2020, he is supposed to wear the CSK canary yellow and show his critics that he has now laid his string of injuries to rest.
International Career
Ngidi made his international debut in the T20 format against Sri Lanka in 2017. He took two wickets in a superb bowling performance to help South Africa win, and he was named Man of the Match for it.
At the age of 21, Ngidi made his Test debut against India in 2018. Ngidi made an impression on his debut with his speed and bounce. In the second innings, he took six wickets, including the crucial wicket of Indian captain Virat Kohli. For his 6 wickets for 39 runs in the second innings, Ngidi was named Man of the Match.
Ngidi was selected for the ODI series against India after a stellar Test debut. He was, however, costly, conceding 47 runs in six overs without taking a wicket. Ngidi’s career has been marred by injuries, and his hamstring flare-up forced him to miss a few games in the 2019 World Cup, a competition he and his teammates would rather forget.