Photo Credit: Cricket South Africa
Lungi Ngidi returned to the Indian Premier League (IPL) fold this past week when he turned out for Chennai Super Kings in one of their two matches played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Proteas fast bowler returned impressive figures of two for 34 for the already eliminated former champions in what was his first appearance in five weeks and third of the 2020 competition. Ngidi now has six wickets.
Chennai won the game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai by six wickets, their second victory in the week.
Earlier on during the past week, Imran Tahir played his second match of the campaign claiming none for 30 in an eight-wicket triumph over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Faf du Plessis struck 25 in the same match to take his overall run tally for the term to 415.
The former South Africa captain was the early pace-setter on top of the run-scoring charts, but he has since dropped to eighth.
He is now second amongst his countrymen, behind Quinton de Kock, who is up to 418 runs after helping Mumbai Indians to twin wins that kept them at the summit of IPL table.
The national wicketkeeper hit 18 in a five-wicket win over RCB, before falling for six in a rare defeat for the defending champions against Rajasthan Royals.
Elsewhere, it was a disappointing week for some of the country’s other stars – AB de Villiers and Chris Morris as well as Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje with their teams losing all the games they played.
RCB fell to defeat to Chennai, Mumbai and Sunrisers Hyderabad as De Villiers hit scores of 39, 15 and 24 respectively. Morris was also expensive in the three games, conceding one for 36 twice and then none for 19 in two overs. Dale Steyn too got a game for Bangalore, with the veteran taken for 43 in four overs versus Mumbai.
Finally, Rabada and Nortje suffered the same fate of three successive losses after their Delhi team lost to KKR, Sunrisers and Mumbai – all on account of poor batting.
It means the former has been joined at top of the wicket-taking charts with 23 wickets by Jasprit Bumrah after claiming two for 33, none for 54 and none for 27.
Nortje, who has a total of 16 wickets, conceded two for 27, one for 37 and one for 25 in the same three games leaving the Capitals with work still to do if they want to reach the play-offs.
The IPL 2020 concludes with the final in Dubai next Tuesday.
Name of Author: Cricket South Africa
Cricket South Africa (CSA) governs cricket in South Africa. Formed in 2002, it succeeded the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) and became the sole governing body in 2008. CSA oversees all levels of cricket, including national teams for men and women, and is a full ICC member and SASCOC affiliate.
