Lungi Ngidi single-handedly was responsible for the loss of India in the second Test match in Centurion. His six wickets in the second innings broke the back of the Indian batting line up as South Africa went on to register a series victory. 

However, there is an interesting injury behind Ngidi regrouping his form and fitness after a fatal injury he suffered in his earlier days. 

It was none other than former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher who helped Ngidi recover from his pain and misery. 

“I think he was a little over bowled,” Boucher said in an interview on Friday. “When he came back from England, he had a stress fracture in his back. It was time for him to look at his career, see where he was going and what he had achieved,” Boucher recollects. 

“It wasn’t a hard chat that I had with him as coach of Titans,” he said. “It was more ‘thank you mister, you have opened a door for yourself to be an international cricketer for a long period of time. Yes, you have this injury now. It’s no use crying about it. Try to make it right. Look at your body. Look at your lifestyle. Try to get those right to become a professional cricketer’,” Boucher added. 

“Sometimes the biggest lessons you learn are probably when you are rock bottom. Not that Ngidi was rock bottom, but he was really de-motivated at that time because of his injury. My experience of going through a couple of injuries and also playing international cricket, I could speak to him from that point of view. And thankfully he took that advice and came out from the other end,” Boucher concluded.