Centurion: India’s strong opening day show may have put South Africa on the backfoot in the first Test here Sunday. However, home side pacer Lungi Ngidi said they still can turn the match. The target is to get the tourists bowled out for less than 350 and then South Africa can take control of the game, Lungi Ngidi stated.
“It’s Test cricket, you win sessions, you lose sessions. All in all, it’s been a good day of cricket. There’s still a lot on that wicket. Things can happen quickly,” the 25-year-old Ngidi said after the game ended Sunday.
Ngidi’s 41st over double strike in successive balls pulled things back a bit for South Africa. Ngidi dismissed Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara off successive deliveries.
“If you get two wickets in two balls, it means anything can happen. If we can get a couple of breakthroughs early Monday, it could turn the game on its head. Still the balls are catching the edge, going towards the slips… It would be great if we can keep them (India) under 340-350,” Ngidi pointed out.
As the rest of the Protea attack lacked control, Ngidi was also struggling but change of ends did the trick for him. “I asked at lunch if I could switch ends, but obviously, everyone prefers their certain end so I had to wait my turn,” Ngidi informed.
“I was just struggling from the other side a little bit and finding the right areas. However, once I changed ends, I felt comfortable and all of a sudden, things started happening for me,” added the fast bowler.
Ngidi informed that the home side bowlers were a little disappointed with the wicket as it lacked swing. “The wicket did less than we thought it was going to do. And they (Indians) had good disciplines, they left well,” Ngidi said.
“I expected a bit more swing and when that didn’t happen, you obviously got to change your plans and trying to get the ball to move off the deck and that was happening on both ends. The gameplan was to try and attack the stumps and the pads,” Ngidi signed off.