NEW DELHI: For Lungi Ngidi, the key moment in his growth as a T20 bowler did not arrive on the international stage but during a formative stint in the IPL nets.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The 2018 season with Chennai Super Kings offered him limited game time, yet it proved pivotal. Spending long hours training alongside Dwayne Bravo, Ngidi worked extensively on his slower deliveries — a skill that would later become a defining feature of his T20 bowling.
Against India in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, Ngidi returned impressive figures of 0 for 15 in four overs, including 10 dot balls. He once again relied on subtle variations and clever changes of pace, frequently alternating between wide yorkers and cutters. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav struggled to read him, often setting up for an anticipated off-cutter only to be surprised by a different variation.Recalling his transformation, Ngidi said: “Like I’ve always said, I was at the IPL in 2018 with Bravo, and that entire IPL, that’s all I worked on. I wasn’t playing, so I got time to practice it. And then when I got back to South Africa, I just tried to perfect that ball.”He acknowledged that mastering change-ups required patience.“Whether it’s a slow ball yorker, or back of length or slow ball bouncer. So three different lengths with the same ball. I guess you’ve got to guess which one’s coming next,” he said.Ngidi believes staying under the radar benefits him.“I think probably just flying under the radar. So not many people pay attention to me. But I guess that helps me in terms of being able to us all these variations,” he said.Detailing his strategy against India, he added, “And then tonight, I used my leg cutter because I know that they’re obviously probably preparing for just an off-cutter. I could see Surya set up as well, looking to sort of just lift it over the leg side.“So just to show him something different, keep him guessing. And that seemed to work pretty well.”For Ngidi, the focus was on pressure rather than wickets.“But I guess just looking at the scoreboard and seeing their position, I kind of knew what I had to do. It was pretty much more build pressure than try to be greedy and put my name up in the wickets column. So, yeah, using that tactic, I guess it worked off pretty well tonight,” he said.He feels the slower ball gives him an edge in modern T20 cricket.“But I think having my slower ball gives me the upper hand in terms of batsmen can’t just swing every ball. We’ve seen that a bit in the power play. So once you have to think, I think that’s where I come into the game.”Ultimately, Ngidi aims to create doubt.“Once you start second-guessing your options, I think that’s what a bowler really wants in the end.“And then all of a sudden, once the pressure’s building, I don’t think they have an answer for what I’m about to deliver next. So it kind of works in my favour that nobody really thinks about me,” Ngidi added.
