Lungi Ngidi Biography – Career, Stats, IPL, Records & Personal Life

Lungi Ngidi is a professional cricketer who represents the South African National Team across all formats. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler with iconic pace and bounce in his bowling. He has played most of the top T20 leagues such as IPL, SA20, and MLC. Off the field, Lungi Ngidi is also a Social Activist who fights against Racism. 

Early Life

Lungi Ngidi was born on 29 March 1996 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His father was working in the school as a maintenance staff member, and his mother was a domestic worker. Ngidi was a talented sportsman from a young age; hence, he received a scholarship from Highbury Preparatory School, where he developed his athletic skills.

Later, he also received a scholarship from Hilton College, where he initially played rugby. But he was later shifted to cricket to avoid injuries from playing rugby.

His coach was Neil Johnson, a former Zimbabwean international all-rounder who helped Ngidi shape his career on the cricket field. Initially, he performed well as a fast bowler in the school-level tournaments and continued it into the future.

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Domestic Career

Lungi Ngidi began his domestic career in 2015, where he played the Africa T20 Cup for the Northerns Team. He received the Africa T20 Cup Player of the Year award in 2016 for his outstanding performance in the Africa T20 Cup. Later, he played for the Titans franchise in South African domestic cricket from 2016 to 2021. Gained a lot of experience from the various multi-day, List A, and T20 format matches. Ngidi was one of the best options for fast bowling in the South African domestic formats.

In 2021, he rejoined the Northerns squad and built himself up as a strong player there. Domestic performance laid the strong foundation in shaping the career of Ngidi and also helped with his selection in the national team.

International Career

Lungi Ngidi made his international debut by playing T20I for South Africa on 20 January 2017 against Sri Lanka. In the debut match only, he earned the Man of the Match award for his outstanding performance.

Then he was selected for the ODI series against Sri Lanka after this T20I, but he was ruled out due to an abdominal injury.

Later, on 13 January 2018, he made his Test debut against India in Centurion and took 7 wickets in the match, including 6/39 in the second innings, and got huge praise.

On 7 February 2018, he made his ODI debut against India, which added to his presence across all international formats.

As of now, he has played 19 Test matches and taken 55 wickets, 67 ODI matches and taken 103 wickets, and 43 T20Is, taking 63 wickets.

IPL Career

Lungi Ngidi made his IPL debut with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2018. In his debut season, he took 11 wickets in 7 matches, including 4/10 against KXIP, which was one of the best spells of the season. He gave his best in the 2018 CSK IPL title win.

Later, he continued to play for CSK until the 2021 season.

In 2022, he was picked by the Delhi Capitals in the mega auction. But he did not get many opportunities to play in that season. Then, in the 2023 and 2024 auctions, he was not picked by any teams. He continued to play domestic and international matches.

Currently, in the 2025 IPL auction, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for Rs 1 crore. Overall, he has played 16 IPL matches and taken 26 wickets.

Batting Career Summary

Bowling Career Summary