South African bowler Lungi Ngidi to miss India clash due to hamstring injury

Image Credit: ICC

In a major blow for South Africa, their young fast bowler Lungi Ngidi picked up a hamstring injury in their Cricket World Cup 2019 clash against Bangladesh at The Oval on Sunday. Ngidi is set to miss the Proteas match against India on Wednesday.

In the match against Bangladesh, Ngidi returned to the dressing room after the end of the seventh over and he never returned to the field. Later it was confirmed that the 24-year-old bowler had been ruled out of the match due to injury in his left hamstring. Ngidi's injury is set to put a major effect on the planning of Faf du Plessis' side as the Proteas were thinking of using their pace bowlers to counter India's strong batting line-up. It is to be noted that South Africa lost their opening clash against hosts England and they tasted their second successive defeat on Sunday when Bangladesh registered a 21 runs victory over them. 

Du Plessi' concerns were compounded when team manager Dr. Mohammed Moosajee confirmed that Ngidi would not be able to play in the match against India. "He was assessed and clinically we felt that he had a left hamstring strain," he said. "We decided not to let him go out there and bowl any further in this match. So currently, it probably means that he'll be out for about a week to 10 days, but we'll have scans done tomorrow. The plan will be probably to get him ready for the West Indies match," Moosajee was quoted as saying by cricketworldcup.com.

It is expected that South Africa would call back Dale Steyn as Ngidi's replacement. Steyn missed the first two matches due to a shoulder injury but it is learnt that his recovery is on track and he may get fit in time to play against India. Opener Hashim Amla, who missed the match against Bangladesh after sustaining a blow to the head against England is also expected to play against India on Wednesday.