Less than a year after lifting the IPL trophy with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, South African pacer Lungi Ngidi is set to walk back into the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, this time as an opponent. Now donning Delhi Capitals colours, Ngidi is clear-eyed about the occasion and what it demands of him.
“I don’t play cricket emotionally. That’s a very bad place to be in,” Ngidi said ahead of the RCB vs DC clash. “I had a great time at RCB, and yes, we won the title. But at the end of the season, I was released. So I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do for Delhi now.”
Ngidi featured in just two matches during RCB’s maiden title-winning campaign in 2025, but made them count. Released at the end of the season and picked up by Delhi at the auction, he has quickly made his mark in the IPL 2026 Season. In four games this season, he has claimed five wickets, all with slower balls, while maintaining an economy rate of 8.04. His dismissal of Nicholas Pooran in Delhi’s opening game has already emerged as a contender for ball of the season.
The secret weapon is his much-talked-about offcutter and dipping slower ball, a delivery he first learned from Dwayne Bravo during his debut IPL season with CSK in 2018, and has since refined with more flight and revs.
“It took me almost close to a year to get the confidence to deliver this ball. If I get two wrong, and those are two beamers, I’m out of the bowling attack,” he admitted, underscoring that the slower ball demands as much mental courage as technical skill.
However, the task at Chinnaswamy will be formidable. RCB’s death-overs run-rate at their home ground stands at a staggering 19.50 this season, and their batters strike at 178.04 against slower deliveries.
Yet Ngidi remains unfazed. “Someone’s got to do the dirty job, and I guess that’s me,” he said with characteristic resolve, a mindset that has made him one of the most quietly effective bowlers of IPL 2026.
