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Big news for Delhi Capitals ahead of RR game: Back from hospital, star pacer ready to take on Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal

Delhi Capitals would hope his return brings good tidings for the team and puts their dwindling campaign back on track.

Updated on: May 1, 2026, 07:03:10 IST
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Lungi Ngidi is back!

What a big relief! Fans had their hearts in their mouths that day. (PTI)
What a big relief! Fans had their hearts in their mouths that day. (PTI)

There can’t be a better piece of news for Delhi Capitals fans at present.

The South African fast bowler sustained a head injury in an earlier IPL 2026 match against Punjab Kings while attempting a catch and was taken to hospital immediately. He has now been cleared to play. At the time, fans feared the worst, but thankfully, the injury wasn’t serious.

Also Read: Delhi cop who created green corridor for Lungi Ngidi, once played with Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir: ‘He wasn’t moving’

On X, the IPL franchise posted a video on Thursday in which New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson is seen at first. He says, “Lungi is back. He is back, again.” In the next frame, it’s now South Africa batsman David Miller who says the same thing.

And then you see Ngidi ready to bowl, at two stumps with the middle one missing, and guess what? He nails the second one on the leg side. Afterwards he celebrates in his characteristic manner, both arms wide-spread and then a jump and downward punching of the air.

Delhi Capitals are at present in Jaipur to play hosts Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. RR are presently fourth in the points table with six wins from 9 games, while Delhi take the seventh spot with three wins from 8 games. Going forward, every match is going to be a must-win for Axar Patel's men. While that may be a hard task, the return of Ngidi is certainly going to boost their campaign not a little.

The 30-year-old has bowled in six games so far and has taken seven wickets at an economy rate of 8.70. For a high-scoring IPL this season, that’s pretty good, one has to say.

His ability to mix his pace stands out. Very few batsmen have been able to read his slower deliveries properly. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal will have to watch out for him today. Delhi Capitals’ nightmarish phase had started with the Ngidi injury as they lost their two matches badly. His return might now turn things around for them. They would hope that’s the case.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava

Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age.   In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there.   After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month.   Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser.   While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.

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