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South Africa fast bowler Lungi Ngidi admitted he had never felt that level of stress on a cricket field after the Proteas scraped past Afghanistan in a nail-biting fixture of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup that went down to the wire at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
During the post-match presentation, reflecting on the tense finish, Ngidi revealed the emotional toll of the contest and expressed relief at emerging victorious. "Lost so much weight today. Never been this stressed in my life in a cricket game. Happy to come out on top," Ngidi said after winning the Player of the Match, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. The experienced pacer acknowledged his responsibility in the crunch moments, particularly with the Super Over looming. "Knew I'd probably be the Super Over option, captain (Aiden Markram) said keep doing the same," Nigidi said, underlining the trust shown in him by the South Africa skipper. Ngidi, however, was candid about his own assessment of his performance, admitting that things did not go according to plan early on. "Let myself down in the first over, didn't go to plan." The right-arm pacer added that inputs from teammates helped him recalibrate his approach as the pressure mounted. "Clear from Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs that balls into the wicket were working." In match 13 of the ongoing ICC tournament, South Africa defeated Afghanistan in a second Super Over thriller. After the match tied with the score of 187 runs from both sides, Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmatullah Gurbaz came to bat for Afghanistan as they managed to extract 17 runs in the first Super Over against the bowling of Lungi Ngidi. Fazalhaq Farooqi came to bowl for Afghanistan while defending 17 runs in the Super Over. He bowled well and got the wicket of Dewald Brevis, but Tristan Stubbs hit two boundaries, including a six on the last delivery, to force another Super Over. Stubbs and Miller batted for South Africa again, and Afghanistan gave the ball to Omarzai. Stubbs welcomed him with a six. Miller hit a couple more sixes to end the over with 23 runs. Mohammad Nabi came to bat with Omarzai while chasing a challenging target of 24 runs. South Africa introduced spin in the Super Over and gave the ball to Keshav Maharaj. He started with a dot ball, then got the wicket of Nabi. Rahmanullah Gurbaz came to bat after that and hit back to back three sixes. With one more six needed on the final delivery, Gurbaz holed out at the point as Afghanistan lost the well-fought match. (ANI)
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