Injured Ngidi misses IPL but expected to return in time for T20 World Cup

Lungi Ngidi will miss this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) with a lower back injury though his availability for the T20 World Cup is not expected to be in jeopardy. 

Ngidi last played a match on February 2 for his SA20 side the Paarl Royals and missed their subsequent playoff game with the ailment. He has since been undergoing rehab, but it was determined he wouldn’t be fit enough for the rigours of the IPL. Ngidi was contracted to the Delhi Capitals, along with Anrich Nortjé. 

His spot will be taken by 21-year-old Australian starlet, Jake Fraser-McGurk, a batter who occasionally bowls leg-spin.

According to Cricket South Africa (CSA), Ngidi will be monitored by CSA’s medical team while he will continue rehab with his provincial union the Northerns Titans. He is expected to return to play in the second half of the T20 Challenge. 

If he is able to recover according to that timeline he would be in action by the second week of April. Rob Walter, Proteas head coach, will be keen for Ngidi to make a comeback as it will add to the options he has available for the World Cup. 

Gerald Coetzee, who hasn’t played since the first Test against India that started on Boxing Day because of a hip injury, has jetted off to India, where he will join the Mumbai Indians. 

Nortje, who missed the ODI World Cup and the series against India with a back injury, has returned for the Eastern Cape Warriors in the T20 Challenge, but is understood to be delaying his departure for the IPL as his wife awaits the birth of the couple’s first child. 

Along with Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Nandre Burger and Ottniel Baartman, South Africa certainly has an embarrassment of riches in the fast bowling department. 

The squad for the World Cup will be named early in May. The Proteas play three T20s against the West Indies later in the month before heading to New York, where they will play their first match in the World Cup against Sri Lanka on June 3.