After impressing everyone with his exceptional bowling performance in the recently-concluded Test series against India, South African pacer Lungi Ngidi is all set to make his debut in the upcoming season of Indian Premier League. The 21-year old fast bowler was picked up at his base price of Rs 50 lakh on day 2 of the IPL Auction 2018 by two-time champions Chennai Super Kings.
After serving the two-year ban, the Chennai-based franchise is making a return to the cash-rich T20 league. Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will once again lead the popular yellow brigade in the 11th edition of IPL. Over the years, from Makhaya Ntini to Chris Morris, many Proteas pacers have donned the Chennai-outfit.
Along with all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Ngidi is expected to make the batsmen of other teams dance to their tunes, with toe-crushing yorkers and whistling bouncers. CSK have christened him with the tag of " thillalangadi", which translates to 'the naughty one'. Elated after being picked up at the auctions, the Durban-born pacer took to twitter to express his excitement, " Just listened to the #LungiDance song loving it already."
Ngidi was handed his first Test cap in place of injured Dale Steyn. Steyn, who made his comeback after spending more than a year on the sidelines due to a shoulder injury. Steyn once again suffered a heel injury in the Cape Town Test against India.
During his Test debut at SuperSport Park in Centurion, Ngidi wrecked havoc in Indian batting lineup with his probing pace bowling. He picked up the prized scalp of Indian captain Virat Kohli as well. He notched up a six-for in his first match and also won the man-of-the-match award for his sterling show.
Lungi also has had a stellar run in T20 Internationals, picking up 6 wickets with figures of 4/19 being his best. In T20s he has played 39 matches so far, picking up a total of 43 wickets with best figures of 4/14.
Chennai Super Kings Squad: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina , Harbhajan Singh, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Karan Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Jagadeesan Narayan, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Asif KM , Lungisani Ngidi, Kanish Seth, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Singh, Chaitanya Bishnoi.
