Lungi Ngidi

Lungisani Ngidi, together with Kagiso Rabada, are the face of South Africa's potent fast-bowling attack. Standing tall at 1.93m, Ngidi is capable of bowling in excess of 140 kph, seaming it either way, and can keep the batsmen honest on the back foot with mean short-pitched deliveries. He is also known to bowl the heavy ball with an open-chested bowling run-up.

Ngidi made his Test debut against India at Centurion in January 2018, coming in for Dale Steyn, who had injured his heel in the first Test at Newlands, Cape Town. He finished with the perfect script, nabbing a six-fer on debut and impressing everyone with his pace, hostility and attitude. He famously set up a rampant Virat Kohli in his debut Test, bowling three balls outside off before angling one on the pads and trapping India's captain plumb in front, thereby helping South Africa win the Test and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Ngidi made his T20 International debut against Sri Lanka at Centurion in January 2017 and was named Player of the Match for his bowling figures of 2-0-12-2. He was named a part of the One-Day International squad that faced Sri Lanka later that month too, but was later ruled out of the series due to left abdominal muscle strain.

Hung over from the success in the Test series against India, Ngidi made his ODI debut against the same opposition at Newlands but came up short, with bowling figures of 0/47 in India's convincing 124-run win. Nonetheless, Ngidi continues to be an important part of South Africa's limited-overs blueprint, although his fitness does remain a worry. Ngidi did find success in ODI cricket though, his maiden 5-wicket haul came in 2020 against Australia and he became the quickest South African bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets (26 matches).

Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada form the crux of the South African pace attack. The fortunes of their country's journey rely on their young shoulders. Ngidi has been in and out of the side due to injuries. He also missed the 2019 Indian Premier League with a side strain. Injuries have 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. He featured in only one season for CSK in the IPL, but made an instant impact as the Men in Yellow clinched the title that year (2018). The following years at the IPL saw him miss more games than he played due to injury. He was bought by the Delhi Capitals for his base price of INR 50 lakh in the 2022 IPL Auction.

He was a part of South Africa’s squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup but didn’t feature in any game. The 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup, however, was a lot more successful for the paceman. In 5 games, Ngidi picked up 7 wickets in 4 games, including a 4-fer against India. Leading up to the tournament, he’d claimed a 5-wicket haul against England in July 2022.

Ngidi was named in South Africa’s 15-man squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.