The Proteas may have flexed their muscles over hapless Canada in their T20 World Cup opener, but that did not get into the head of bowler Lungi Ngidi, who praised their opponents after his man-of-the-match performance.
Ngidi was lethal and showed no mercy with the ball, as his 4/31 helped South Africa get their T20 World Cup campaign off to a good start, defeating the Canadians by 57 runs.
After the match, Ngidi admitted that even though they swept aside minnows Canada, it was difficult and tricky to plan for their opponents, as they had little information about them.
Canada is making an appearance in the T20 World Cup for the first time.
“That’s one of the things we struggled with, game plans for guys you haven’t seen much of,” Ngidi said.
“It was trial and error, so we tried something and had a chat and worked it out as we went. But it was pretty straightforward with the new ball.”
Proteas put under pressure
Ngidi went on to praise the Canadians, stating that they must be proud of putting them under pressure.
“I think they did very well tonight [on Monday],” Ngidi said.
“With the bowling, our guys got off to a good start, but they were able to bring the game back, and that’s what T20 cricket is about, being able to apply some pressure.
“They got, I think, four wickets in that middle period, and that’s world-class for any team. You would take that, especially after the start we got.
“And then for us to have them four down in the powerplay and still be able to bat out their 20 overs, that’s just as good as well.
“So, they can be very proud of what they did tonight. They put us under pressure at certain stages of the game.”
