The evolution of South Africa’s Lungi Ndidi

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Lungi Ndidi, who is a part of the South African team which recently played an impressive match against India, has come a long way.Born to parents who were domestic helps in Durban, he went on to attend school aided by an anonymous sponsor.

He has also struggled with mental health, and in 2015, while on a trip for the Universities World Cup in India, Ndidi was caught in a traffic jam, on a narrowhill road, while on a bus in Dehradun. This caused him to suffer a panic attack brought on by the continuous honking and hooting, and incident that later became well-known.

However, the 6-foot-4 player has now come a long way since then in conquering his vulnerabilities, with fearless performances against team like India, with whom he played his Test debut where he claimed 6 wickets and was crowned Man of the Match. Ndidi is now back playing India at the T20 World Cup where has proved to be a formidable member of his team.

In his recent match against India, Ndidi remained calm and dismissed key players such as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, and Virat Kohli, who were no match for the South African’s confident bowling. It was predicted by the commentator Dale Steyn, that Ndidi was well-suited to the pitch, and the reason behind the replacement of TabraizShamsie.

While Rohit Sharma mistimed Ndidi’s delivery, KL Rahul could not respond to the fast pace, and Pandya was caught off-guard by a short ball. Furthermore, after each wicket, Ndidi kept his celebrations to a minimum,betraying only smiles and handshakes. Ndidi has clearly made progress in being level-headed and it remains to be seen if the ‘gentle giant’ has what it takes to lead South Africa to the World Cup.