The skills that Lungi Ngidi has displayed at this T20 World Cup were honed eight years ago in the very country that’s co-hosting the tournament, India. After a breakthrough debut Test summer in 2017-18, during which he emerged as a young tearaway, Ngidi was signed by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and things slowed down for him, in all kinds of ways.

“I was at the IPL with [Dwayne] Bravo, and that entire IPL, that [the slower ball] is all I worked on. I wasn’t playing [much], so I got time to practice it,” Ngidi said after South Africa‘s 76-run win over India in Ahmedabad.

That season, Ngidi played in just seven of the franchise’s 16 games but spent plenty of time with Bravo, an early adopter of the dipping slower ball as an attacking delivery in franchise T20 cricket. Taking pace off may have been counterintuitive to a 22-year-old who had a natural ability to bowl quick, and it took Ngidi time to hone the craft. “When I got back to South Africa, I just tried to perfect that ball. It took a while, but over the years, I’ve realised using different lengths is what’s actually doing the best; whether it’s a slower-ball yorker, or on length, or slower-ball bouncer. So it’s three different lengths with the same ball and the batter has got to guess which one’s coming next.”

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Against India in Ahmedabad on a black-soil pitch, Ngidi kept his lengths on the fuller side and his pace down. More than half his deliveries were under 120kph and he got the ball to dip on the batters late, which made it difficult for them to pick the ball or get it away. He conceded just 15 runs in his four overs and was primarily responsible for keeping quiet one of the most attacking line-ups and partisan crowds in the global game.

Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, called Ngidi “the point of difference there with the slower balls, really full,” and said that “he’s certainly very deceptive and very difficult to execute against.”

That may make you think Ngidi has a library of slower balls to call on and is coming up with new deliveries all the time but he says his repertoire contains “probably only two: the offcutter and the legcutter. “Tonight I used my legcutter because I know they’re preparing for just an offcutter. I could see Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] set up as well, looking to just lift it over the leg side, so I wanted to show him something different, keep him guessing, and that seemed to work pretty well.”

Suryakumar was the only right-hand batter in India’s top six and Ngidi initially bowled the offcutter to him and he went after it. Suryakumar drove it to mid-on where Kagiso Rabada saved the boundary but Ngidi could see that the India captain was lining him up. In the next over, Ngidi changed tack and bowled the legcutter. As he reached for it, Suryakumar under-edged but no damage was done.

That Ngidi went wicketless against India does not do justice to the overall threat he poses but you only need to look at the tournament’s bowling charts for proof. He has eight wickets – which puts him in the top 10 – and has the best economy rate among the seven seamers who have taken at least eight wickets in the competition so far. Since the 2024 T20 World Cup, Ngidi’s economy rate is the fourth-best among seamers who have bowled at least 50 overs.

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T20 World Cup 2026 – Faf du Plessis and Varun Aaron on the tactics that worked for South Africa vs I

Faf du Plessis and Varun Aaron on how South Africa got their bowling plans spot on

Ngidi’s ability to both strike and be difficult to score off makes him one of the most impressive performers at this event, and the fact that he bowled exactly the same number of overs and conceded the same number of runs as Jasprit Bumrah drew inevitable comparisons. Does Ngidi feel the opposition fear him? “I haven’t felt that over the years. I’m probably just flying under the radar, so not many people pay attention to me,” he said. “I guess that helps me in terms of being able to use all these variations. 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. It kind of works in my favour that nobody really thinks about me.”

Except that India were thinking about him. Ten Doeschate said they had “spent so much time this week on planning for that”, but still could not get Ngidi or any of the other South Africans away on what is essentially India’s home turf. That’s a worry for the favourites and a huge confidence-booster for South Africa, who remain undefeated. It also confirms that South Africa have mastered conditions at the venue that is most likely to host the final (unless Pakistan qualify and the final is held in Colombo), which they think stands them in good stead if they get to it.

That is mostly because South Africa had the advantage of playing three of their four group games in Ahmedabad before the India game, and they also play West Indies at the same venue. Though they have moved between red, mixed and black-soil surfaces, they’ve had the time to get used to the conditions and sum up their best XI for the conditions. Ngidi fits perfectly into that. “There’s a bit of swing up front, and there’s some gripping into the wicket, so using the variation seems to be the go-to.”

Aiden Markram and Lungi Ngidi celebrate after the win Getty Images

South Africa have also learned how to adapt at the ground, and after using Ngidi and Marco Jansen (who has a new slower ball of his own, a hybrid between a palm and knuckle ball) with the new ball against Canada and Afghanistan, they changed tack. Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada shared the new ball against New Zealand and Aiden Markram and Jansen were used against India. Ngidi bowled second change, which he felt brought his variations even more into play.

“I didn’t bowl in the same position that I bowled in the other games so obviously the tactic was different, and it comes from the coach and the captain. And then I’ve got to adapt to what they obviously want from me on the day,” he said. “But having my slow ball gives me the upper hand. Batters can’t just swing every ball.

“We’ve seen that a bit in the powerplay, so once you’re out of that, that’s where I come into the game. Once the batter starts second-guessing your options, that’s what a bowler really wants in the end.”

As batters have become more innovative, bowlers have had to develop a greater sense of unpredictability so now is probably a good time to remind everyone that Ngidi is not a medium-pacer. He can, and still does, crank it up to over 140kph. Keep an eye out for that one too.