Should CSK have persisted with Lungi Ngidi?

MS Dhoni is not a man of ifs and buts. His certainty when it comes to decision making on the field is why he was India's most successful captain. The pressure not getting into the players’ minds has helped the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) clinch titles over the years. MS Dhoni, at the helm of things for CSK, has facilitated this extraordinary run.

The 2020 season of IPL was a season to forget for the Chennai Super Kings and the team couldn’t make it to the playoffs for the first time in the history of the IPL.

Naturally, experts raised questions on how Dhoni refused to change his starting XI despite poor performances from certain players. Kedar Jadhav and Piyush Chawla had to take the brunt of the criticism as Dhoni persisted with them despite their poor form.

Contradictory to Dhoni's policy of trusting his players to perform, CSK dropped Lungi Ngidi from the starting XI after his poor showing against the Rajasthan Royals.

Lungi Ngidi conceded 30 runs in his final over, helping RR reach 216, an above-par total in the batting paradise of Sharjah. What aided Dhoni’s decision was that Lungi Ngidi conceded 27 runs off his first two legal deliveries as he bowled two no-balls, which went for two sixes. Josh Hazlewood and Dwayne Bravo took turns replacing Lungi Ngidi for most of the league.

CSK has been a side that wins its matches on auction tables. Since Chepauk hosts 7 out of 14 league games, the management has been building teams keeping in mind Chepauk’s spin assisting surface.

CSK's spin arsenal has been built around Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, and R Sai Kishore, a left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu. The change in venue of IPL 2020 to the UAE affected CSK massively.

But, this was not the first time CSK had to go through a venue change. In 2018, all CSK's home matches had to be shifted from Chennai to Pune due to Cauvery protests across Chennai.

The shift from the spinning Chepauk tracks to the pace assisting ground in Pune was not supposed to be easy. But it was Lungi Ngidi who made it easy for CSK. His first match in the IPL was a good outing as he recorded figures of 1/26, in which he bowled 12 dot balls.

Lungi Ngidi - The enforcer

While Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur bowled at 130s, swinging the ball, Lungi Ngidi used his height to extract a bounce from the surface and went about his business.

Ngidi finished the season with 11 wickets at a miserly economy of 6.00. His best figures in the season were 4/10 against Kings XI Punjab, a side that boasts of big hitters. CSK went on to win the title, announcing their comeback in style after the 2-year ban.

This is why Dhoni dropping Lungi Ngidi after two matches in the 2020 season came as a surprise to many. Ngidi was Dhoni’s go-to fast bowler in the 2018 season.

In the first match this season, Lungi Ngidi returned figures of 3/38, troubling the Mumbai Indians' middle order with his variations and Ngidi’s form coming into the season was phenomenal.

Ngidi was South Africa’s most successful bowler in the limited-overs leg of the summer of 2020. He picked up 8 wickets in 3 T20Is against England. In addition to this, he defended 7 runs in the final over of the 1st T20i to help South Africa clinch the game.

Against Australia, he continued his impressive run with numbers of 3/41 in the 2nd T20i. His spell triggered an Australian collapse as Australia fell short of South Africa by 12 runs, completing another famous win for the Proteas.

Lungi Ngidi has the highest number of T20i wickets for South Africa in 2020.

In the home summer, Lungi Ngidi’s bowling economy was a slight concern for South Africa. But he more than made it up with his wickets and death bowling. If Lungi Ngidi's one off-day had not been treated harshly, in the long run, he would have played a massive role in CSK's journey this season.

With 4 of the top 5 wicket-takers this season being pacers, Lungi Ngidi, with his wicket-taking ability, would have made a place for himself at the top.

Who is the purple cap holder in IPL2020? Click here to find out.

Three super scalps for the #yellove cause! 🦁💛#WhistlePodu #WhistleFromHome #CSKvKXIP pic.twitter.com/ONphMecbGI

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) November 1, 2020

After replacing Hazlewood in the last two matches, Lungi Ngidi picked 5 wickets, bowling the tough overs at the death for CSK. His 3-fer against Kings XI Punjab included the big scalps of the in-form duo of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.

After Ngidi did the damage to Punjab’s batting backbone, CSK scripted a perfect chase to end the campaign on a high. All the evidence suggests CSK should have persisted with Lungi Ngidi. With the season coming to an end, CSK will be raring to go in next year's IPL. They will hope they don't repeat the mistakes they made this season.