T20 World Cup 2022: "Ye Lungi to Dhoti khol raha hai" - Netizens react as South Africa's Lungi Ngidi rattles India with sensational spell
South African pacer Lungi Ngidi breathed fire with the new ball in the team's T20 World Cup 2022 contest against India at the Perth Stadium on Sunday, October 30.
The right-arm fast bowler started his spell by sending Team India skipper Rohit Sharma back to the pavilion with a short-of-length delivery. The opening batter tried to make some room to play an attacking shot, but was undone by the bounce and was ultimately out caught and bowled.
Ngidi struck again in the same over, dismissing KL Rahul for nine runs. The batter attempted to guide an outside-off ball to the third man. However, he edged it straight to the slips, where Aiden Markram completed a simple catch.
In his next over, the seamer got the better of the in-form Virat Kohli. Ngidi got the big fish as the batter fell to a short-pitched delivery. Kagiso Rabada latched onto a great catch at the fine leg boundary as the star batter perished while looking to play the pull shot.
The 26-year-old was back at it again in the ensuing over. He bagged his fourth scalp of the match by getting Hardik Pandya out. It was once again a short-of-length ball that fetched reward for the bowler.
A number of fans took to social media to react to Ngidi's fiery spell with the ball against the Men in Blue. Here are some of the reactions:
Notably, Ngidi was not a part of South Africa's playing XI for their team's previous fixture against Bangladesh. Temba Bavuma's ploy to bring in the pacer in place of left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi reaped dividends for the Proteas as he helped his team get off to a brilliant start.
India in desperate need of a solid partnership following Lungi Ngidi's spell
At the time of writing, India have already lost half their side and the onus is on Suryakumar Yadav and Dinesh Karthik to steady the ship for the team. While the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar can also contribute with the bat, the Men in Blue would want Yadav and Karthik to stay there till the end.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first on the surface. However, his decision backfired as the Indian batters struggled against the South African pacers on the seam-friendly track in Perth.
India are comfortably placed at the top of the points table in Group 2 after two successive victories in the ongoing showpiece event. They have four points in their tally along with a net run rate of 1.425.
South Africa, on the other hand, have claimed three points so far from two games and they occupy third place in the standings.