T20 World Cup, India vs South Africa: One of my best T20 performances, Virat Kohli’s wicket was special, says Lungi Ngidi | Cricket News

PERTH: Lungi Ngidi was delighted to have Virat Kohli between his four scalps in “one of his best T20 performances” after South Africa clinched a crucial T20 World Cup match against India by five wickets on Sunday.
Ngidi, who replaced Tabraiz Shamsi in the playing XI, took 4 for 29 which included the wickets of rival captain Rohit Sharma, opener KL Rahul, Kohli and Hardik Pandya.
“Virat hit me for two boundaries, so he tried to attack me a bit. Bowling that (short) ball, I knew for sure he was going for it. Could have gone anywhere, for six or in the hand, and luckily it went my way,” Ngidi told reporters in the mixed zone when asked about his favorite dismissal.
In fact, he rated this performance better than his 5/39 against England.

“Against England we came out on the losing end and it was upsetting and I haven’t played that 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 no. day and is probably one of my best performances.”

For Ngidi, a night T20 match is always a tense one with a player thinking about all sorts of possibilities throughout the day.

“To be honest, it’s a bit nerve-wracking because in a night game you tend to play in your head all day. Try to stay as calm as possible. We didn’t know who was going to play until late afternoon. To find you playing was surprising to me, but you have a job to do for your country.”
WE COULD HAVE TARGETED ASHWIN ONLY ON THIS TRACK: MARKRAM
If Ngidi was South Africa’s game-changer that night, Aiden Markram, with a solid 52 from 41 balls, played the supporting role perfectly.

It was Markram, who first attacked Ashwin in the 14th over, hitting one of the two sixes.
“I’m sure they expected us to take on Ashwin too, just because of the nature of the wicket, because the seamers were so difficult to get away from.”

In the back-10, Ashwin was the only bowler who could be attacked.
“So it almost got to a stage where we had to target somebody because they bowled so well initially in the first, almost, 10 overs until the drink break. It got to the stage where we had to pick somebody. It could be anybody on any given night. And sometimes you execute. Sometimes you don’t.”