South Africa’s ace paceman Lungi Ngidi was brought in place of Tabraiz Shamsi to strengthen the team’s pace battery attack. Ngidi was able to grab his chance with both hands as he took a total of four wickets and conceded only 29 runs in his quota of four overs against India at the Perth Stadium, Perth on Sunday.
Ngidi struck twice in his first over as he got rid of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul but revealed that in-form Virat Kohli’s wicket was most special. The lanky pacer made most of the extra bounce and pace on the Perth wicket and targeted Indian batters with short-pitched stuff.
Ngidi was right on the money from the get-go and bowled in the right areas to reap his rewards. Kagiso Rabada also played a key role in Ngidi’s success as he took two fine catches at deep fine leg to dismiss Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya.
“Virat had hit me for two boundaries, so he was trying to attack me a bit. Bowling that (short) ball, I probably knew he would go for it. Could have gone anywhere, for six or in hand, and luckily, it went by my side,” Ngidi told reporters in the mixed zone when asked about his favorite dismissal.
Ngidi rated this performance as better than 5-39 against England, which he took while playing at Bristol in July.
“Against England, we came out on the losing side and that was upsetting and I have not played as much in this World Cup. To come in on a day like this and perform against India, I think I couldn’t have asked for a better day and probably ranks as one of my best performances.”
Ngidi revealed that they could have only targeted Ravichandran Ashwin on the pitch which was full of bounce and pace. Ashwin went on to concede a total of 43 runs in his quota of four overs. The off-spinner was taken for 17 runs in the 14th over he bowled by Aiden Markram and David Miller and it was the turning point of the game.
“I’m sure they expected us to take on Ashwin as well, just because of the nature of the wicket, because the seamers were so difficult to get away. In the back-10, Ashwin was the only bowler, who could have been attacked.
“So it almost got to a stage where we had to target someone because they bowled so well initially in the first, pretty much, 10 overs up until the drinks break. It got to the stage where we had to pick someone. It could be anyone on any night. And sometimes you execute. Sometimes you don’t.”
South Africa will next take on Pakistan at the SCG on Thursday.
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