Lungi Ngidi unleashed the beast in him and wreaked havoc on India's batting line-up with a match-winning spell to help South Africa beat India by five wickets in their T20 World Cup clash on Sunday (October 30).
Ngidi bowled an exceptional spell of 4/29 to bundle the star-studded India to just 133/9 despite Suryakumar Yadav's exploits 68 off 40. In reply, South Africa rode on Aiden Markram 52 off 41 and David Miller's 59 off 46 overhauled the target with two balls to spare
Lungi Ngidi was pleased as punch to have Virat Kohli among his four scalps in "one of his best T20 performances" after Proteas won a crucial match against India.
Ngidi, who replaced Tabraiz Shamsi in the playing XI, dismissed four of the India batters which included the wickets of rival captain Rohit Sharma, opener KL Rahul, 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 favourite dismissal.
In fact, he rated this performance better than his 5/39 against England.
"Against England, we came out on 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."
For Ngidi, a night T20 game is always a tense one with a player thinking about all sorts of possibilities throughout the day.
"To be honest, it is a bit nerve-wracking as in a night game you tend to play in your head the whole day. Try to stay as calm as possible. We didn't know till late afternoon, who is going to play. Finding out that you were playing was surprising for me but you have a job to do for your country."
We could have only targeted Ashwin on this track: Markram
If Ngidi was South Africa's game-changer on the night, Aiden Markram, with a solid 52 off 41 balls, played the supporting role perfectly.
It was Markram, who first attacked Ashwin in the 14th over and hit one of the two sixes.
"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," he added.
While South Africa (5 points 3 games) are now on top of group 2, India (4 points from 2 games) with upcoming matches against Bangladesh (Nov 2 in Adelaide) and Zimbabwe (Nov 6 in Melbourne) are well within striking distance of a semi-final berth.
