Ngidi missed DC’s last two matches due to head injury sustained on April 25.
Delhi Capitals (DC) fast bowler Lungi Ngidi is fully fit and available for the team’s IPL 2026 clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday (May 5), confirmed bowling coach Munaf Patel.
Ngidi missed DC’s last two matches to complete a mandatory seven-day concussion recovery protocol following a head injury sustained while fielding on April 25.
Ngidi suffered the injury after falling awkwardly while attempting a catch of Punjab Kings (PBKS) opener Priyansh Arya.
After being discharged from BLK-Max Super Speciality Hospital on the same evening, he observed the necessary concussion stand-down period.
“All bowlers are fit and Lungi is 100 percent fit because he didn't play two games because of the six-day criteria. But he's a hundred percent fit now,” said Munaf in the pre-match press conference on Monday (May 4).
Though Kyle Jamieson did very well to dismiss Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in Jaipur, where DC won by six wickets, he did go for runs. The Capitals management would want for Ngidi to partner with Mitchell Starc as he has been prolific with his repertoire of slower balls.
Starc made a sensational return against Rajasthan Royals (RR), returning with figures of 3/40 after three months out with shoulder and elbow injuries. The veteran left-arm pacer dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal with only his third delivery and removed Ravindra Jadeja and Riyan Parag in the 17th over, proving his form and fitness.
“Absolutely - if a wicket-taker comes in powerplay, your whole plan changes. If a wicket-taker comes in the first six overs, the whole scenario changes. As you can see, scores of 230 and 240 are being chased down because one is unable to pick wickets in power-play. But when your main bowler returns and gets you two wickets in powerplay, it makes a lot of difference.
“So, bowling in partnerships was somewhere missing for us and now it has been added. Obviously, you get that belief as you have a world-class bowler. You can call him the captain of the bowling unit. He is the main bowler in the fast bowlers. Everyone gets confidence from him,” added Munaf.
The bowling coach said the team reverted to using overseas options after the plan to use Indian pacers Mukesh Kumar and Auqib Nabi failed.
“Both of our Indian bowlers, Auqib and Mukesh, are new ball bowlers. So, our plan was that we will use both of them because if you use Indian bowlers, you can add foreign players batting.
“So, that was the plan. But if you don't succeed in the plan, you have to go to plan B. So, we didn't succeed in the plan that we used Indian bowlers and somehow we made a mistake in that.”
This shift affected team selection, including instances where David Miller missed out, and Pathum Nissanka played due to an injury to young opener Sahil Parakh.
“It is difficult to fit in the eleven because there are only four overseas players. There is a reason for that - Sahil was injured and we wanted Pathum to get a chance.
“We wanted an additional bowler too. So, we played Pathum and we had to play two foreign fast bowlers and you can't let Starc out and Lungi couldn't play at that time. Our plan was that either Pathum or Miller will play. We didn't have another opener because he was injured and so, we went with Pathum.”
Munaf Patel firmly ruled out the return of Prithvi Shaw to the playing XI, defending the ongoing success of the team's current opening combination.
“Openers are making 100-150 runs and you are asking us to play Prithvi Shaw. From where should make him play? If the opening partnership is going for 100-250 runs, who should we replace with? We had to change it because Sahil got injured and Pathum has now made 62 runs in last game. So, I don't think we should change it and we won't change it because Sahil is injured.”
(With IANS Inputs)