IND vs SA: "Could Have Gone Anywhere, For Six Or In Hand, And Luckily, It Went By My Side" - South African Fast Bowler Lungi Ngidi Says Virat Kohli's Wicket Was Special

South Africa beat India by 5 wickets in their third match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday, October 30.

David Miller and Aiden Markram scored fifties for the Proteans, while Lungi Ngidi took 4 wickets and ran through the Indian top order. India managed to score 133 runs for the loss of 9 wickets, with Suryakumar Yadav scoring 68 runs.

Lungi Ngidi, who replaced Tabraiz Shamsi in the playing XI, was the wrecker-in-chief, taking four wickets for 29 runs, including Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Hardik Pandya.

The 26-year-old got all of them with short deliveries, but the wicket of the in-form Kohli was his favourite. He was also named man of the match for his brilliant performance with the ball. The South African fast bowler rated this performance better than his 5/39 against England earlier this year in July.

Virat Kohli Was Trying To Attack Me A Bit – Lungi Ngidi

“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 said.

“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,” he added

A night T20 game is always tense for a player who thinks about all kinds of scenarios throughout the day. He said, “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,” he concluded.

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