Lungi Ngidi is South Africa's leading light at IPL

You know by now that Lungi Ngidi bowled up a storm for Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.

Ngidi made good use of a pacy Pune pitch to claim 4/10. No-one else took more than two wickets.

What you may not have known is that‚ going into Wednesday’s eliminator between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals‚ Ngidi owns the best economy rate in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

His 5.90 makes him the only bowler in the competition conceding than a run-a-ball.

But there’s a catch‚ and not the kind that earns a wicket: Ngidi has played only six of Chennai’s 15 games.

Bought for his base price of the equivalent of less than R930 000 — or something like pocket change on the IPL scale — he was never going to be a regular member of the attack.

So there was no surprise when Ngidi missed Chennai’s first seven games‚ at least partly because he returned home after the death of his father.

He played in four of the next six matches‚ taking five wickets at 7.14 runs an over‚ and cracked the nod for Sunday’s game because Deepak Chahar had injured a hamstring.

Happily‚ Ngidi grabbed his chance with both hands.

And when Chahar returned to the fray on Tuesday for Chennai’s playoff match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai‚ the South African shared the new ball with him.

This time Chennai’s matchwinner was another South African: Faf du Plessis’ unbeaten 67 took them home by two wickets with five balls to spare.

Even so‚ it has been a quiet IPL for Saffers.

AB de Villiers’ 480 runs in 11 innings for eliminated Royal Challengers Bangalore puts him eighth among the runscorers‚ but the next South African on the list is Quintin de Kock — in 35th place.

Ngidi’s haul of 10 wickets makes him the country’s most successful bowler at the tournament‚ but he shares 26th spot on the ladder with four others.

Chennai have booked their place in Sunday’s final in Mumbai‚ which means Ngidi and Du Plessis — and Imran Tahir‚ who is also on CSK’s books — could get another chance to shine.