Freedom MS Dhoni gave me helped me grow as a player, reveals Lungi Ngidi
Lungi Ngidi, who was a part of the CSK side that won the IPL title in 2018, has revealed that MS Dhoni’s style of captaincy - which involves passing minimal instructions to the players - helped him grow as a bowler. Ngidi ended the season with outrageous numbers, picking 11 wickets at an ER of 6.
When Chennai Super Kings (CSK) purchased Lungi Ngidi back in 2018, the Proteas pacer became an instant cult hero - for his bowling and also his name, which literally refers to a type of sarong famous in South India. Despite finding himself sandwiched between miserly spinners in a CSK team that breathed spin bowling, Ngidi’s clever but effective bowling rendered extremely useful for the side, who used the South African as their go-to man up top and at the death.
Eventually, Ngidi capped off his season with a title-winning spell of 4-1-26-1 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final at the Wankhede, but interestingly, the pacer revealed how skipper MS Dhoni’s style captaincy helped him excel in the side. Ngidi revealed that Dhoni, as the skipper, gave him the freedom to bowl however he wanted, something which the pacer believes helped him grow as a bowler, making him assess situations from an individual standpoint.
“It was a very comfortable environment. Dhoni, for instance, didn't have much to say. But my cricket made a lot of progress a lot because I was being led by someone who didn't tell me what to do. I think he captains on gut feel, or how he thinks the game is going to go. So he'll change the field sometimes, and as a player, you need to understand where his mind is - where he wants you to bowl - just by the change in the field,” Ngidi told Cricbuzz.
“That helped my game grow a lot in terms of me not needing to be told what to do when the situation changes. I can see for myself by the movement in the field what balls I need to bowl and what balls I shouldn't bowl. That helped me a great deal.”
The South African pacer, who was just 22 years of age when he walked into a CSK side that was filled with a platoon of senior players, revealed that the big names in the side were extremely welcoming and added that they did not try to feed too much information to him. Ngidi, however, revealed that the CSK seniors always kept their doors open for the youngsters to interact with them and pick their brains.
"Among the senior CSK players I was close to Faf, having played under him as a captain. I found it easier to communicate with him, but it wasn't difficult to talk with all the other big names.
“They give insight where they feel they should. That was the most helpful thing about having so many senior guys around. They know that they don't need to give too much information, but they will give you what they can when they feel you need it. I was never bombarded with information. And if I needed anything I was always more than welcome to ask them.”
