‘I’ve never been that stressed,’ says Ngidi after incredible T20 World Cup match

Proteas fast bowler and man-of-the-match Lungi Ngidi said that he had never been more stressed in a game of cricket, after the SA team edged Afghanistan in an incredible T20 World Cup clash that saw two super overs decide an amazing contest.

The match should have been over in regular time, when needing 13 to win off the last over with one wicket remaining, Afghanistan lower order batter Noor Ahmad hit the first ball of the 20^th from Kagiso Rabada straight to cover, only for the dreaded whooping sound from the stands indicating a no ball, sparing him.

With Rabada bowling a wide, and Ahmad hitting a six and a two, which was also a no ball, it left Afghanistan needing two from two to win, but a run out off the penultimate ball with them chasing the double, left Afghanistan 187 all out, level on the Proteas’ 187/6 batting first.

Super Over

Heading into the super over it was Ngidi who was called upon to bowl, after his brilliant figures of 3/26 in four overs helped pull the Proteas back into the game after Afghanistan looked well in charge of the chase on 114/3 after 12 overs.

He proceeded to bowl a decent super over, but some brilliant batting from Azmatullah Omarzai, saw him squeeze the first ball between point and short third for four, launch the second just over the towering Marco Jansen at long-on for six, and hit a four later in the over as 17 came off it.

Fazalhaq Farooqi was tasked with defending the total, and the Proteas responded with a second ball six from Dewald Brevis, only for him to fall off the third ball, with Tristan Stubbs walking in, hitting a four of the fourth, a dot ball off the fifth and a six off the last to draw the scores level again sending it to a second super over.

This time batting first, a six from Stubbs, and two sixes and two twos from David Miller saw them hit Omarzai for 23, which they would have been confident of defending.

But despite the experienced Keshav Maharaj being given the ball, and bowling a dot ball first, and having Mohammad Nabi caught brilliantly by Miller off the second, it still went down to the wire as three straight sixes from Rahmanullah Gurbaz and a wide, left five needed off one ball, before he hit the last ball straight to Miller who took the catch to end an unbelievable spectacle.

Stressed

“I’ve lost so much weight today. I have never been that stressed in my life in a cricket game, but I am happy to come out on the winning side,” said a smiling Ngidi in a TV interview after the match.

“I knew that I was probably going to be the option (to bowl the Super Over), and the captain said just keep doing the same. I almost got a wicket again with the slower balls, but it just wasn’t to be in the Super Over.

“The captain said it was going to be a scrap, but I didn’t know it was going to be that much of a scrap. But being able to win two Super Overs, with our hitters hitting like that, and then we obviously had to try and defend it, I am very happy with that.”

Speaking about his performance in the match as a whole, Ngidi said: “I obviously let myself down in that first over (which went for 13 runs), when we had a plan which we wanted to try execute, but it didn’t go to plan and I leaked a few runs.

“So I just went back to what has been working for me in the powerplay over the last couple of months, and with the way they were going I knew they would keep attacking us, and that then brings the slower ball into play.”