Under the radar but inescapable: Ngidi's smoke and mirrors night

It's difficult to hide Lungi Ngidi. He's 1.93 metres tall, he seems almost as broad as that at the shoulders, and he has perhaps the most dazzling smile in all of cricket. See Lungi, know Lungi.

He was on his way to the mixed zone - a more informal interaction with reporters than a press conference - when he found his path blocked by two men. They hadn't seen Ngidi coming, and he didn't alert them to his presence. Instead he stood close to them and smiled that dazzling smile, waiting for them to turn their heads and see him. Clearly, he had pulled this party trick before.

After several seconds, one head turned. Then the other. Then both heads tilted up and up and up, until their faces met the smile and the just as dazzling eyes. See Lungi, know Lungi.

Ngidi would have been able to walk around the two men easily enough. But he chose to loom near them, pausing for the moment they realised a man as formidable as he is famous was looming over them.

When they did, they gave way like the velvet curtains on a Broadway stage. The show had to go on, and Ngidi took it with him as he went; maybe a little taller and broader, and the wattage of his smile hiked to nuclear levels. As slices of life go, it was delicious.

See Lungi, know Lungi is one thing. See Lungi, hit Lungi is quite another. The Indians found that out to their cost on Sunday. He bowled to Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakravarthy. The latter aside, those are among the most destructive hitters in the global game, bristling with strike rates that range from Abhishek's 191.25 to Hardik's 144.48. Abhishek is No. 1 in the batting rankings in the format with Suryakumar at No. 6.

And yet they couldn't lay a bat on Ngidi's deliveries solidly enough to score more than 15 runs off his bowling. That's an economy rate of 3.75 - identical to Jasprit Bumrah's on the night. But Bumrah took three wickets. For the first time in the tournament, Ngidi took none. That didn't stop the press from requesting his presence at the mixed zone.

Because while Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj grabbed the glory with their hauls of 4/22 and 3/24, they wouldn't have been able to do that without Ngidi's ability to be seen but not hit.

"I looked at the scoreboard and saw [India's] position, and I knew what I had to do," Ngidi said. "It was more about building pressure than trying to be greedy and put my name up in the wickets column."

Ngidi is well capable of cranking up the pace above 140 kilometres an hour. So it is a credit to his cleverness, creativity and cunning that he has developed what seems to be an array of different slower balls. If the speed doesn't get you, the sneakiness does. Often, one of those attributes sets up the other for the kill. It's beautiful to watch, not to face.

But wait. There's more: "Tonight I used my leg-cutter because I knew they were preparing for just an off-cutter. I could see Surya set up, looking to lift it over the leg side. It was about showing him something different to keep him guessing."

He learnt the slower ball from Dwayne Bravo while riding the bench for Chennai Super Kings in 2018 - Ngidi played only seven of the franchise's 16 matches that year. He left the country as a booming fast bowler, and returned with skills that will serve him well as he contemplates turning 30 next month.

"I wasn't playing much, so I got time to practise it," Ngidi said. "And when I got back to South Africa, I just tried to perfect that ball. It took a while, but over the years I've realised that using different lengths is what's actually the best. Whether it's a slower ball yorker, or on a length, or a slower ball bouncer. It's three different lengths with the same ball. You've got to guess which one's coming next.

"My slower ball gives me the upper hand because batters can't just swing at every ball. I think that's where I come into the game. Once you start second-guessing your options as a batter, that's what a bowler really wants."

Bumrah is a past master at doing exactly that. Consequently the cricketminded world seems to stop whatever it's doing to watch India's finest bowl. How will he fool them this time, what magic is coming, where's that intelligence going to go now, they ask themselves. With Ngidi? Not so much.

"I fly under the radar, so not many people pay attention to me," Ngidi said. "I guess that helps me in terms of being able to use all these variations. All of a sudden, once the pressure's building, I don't think batters have an answer for what I'm about to deliver next. It works in my favour that nobody really thinks about me."

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