Ngidi wants to settle score with Bangladesh
South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi hasn’t forgotten losing to Bangladesh in their opening match of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and feels that he and his teammates have a point to prove when they take on the Tigers in the forthcoming three-match One-Day International series, starting on Friday.
Bangladesh defeated South Africa by 21 runs in that match, where Ngidi had to leave the field after bowling only four overs due to a hamstring injury.
“We definitely have a point to prove and we need to be as clinical as we would be against any other team,” Ngidi told the local South African media on Wednesday.
South Africa are the overwhelming favourites against Bangladesh in the ODI series. The Tigers have lost all nine ODIs they have played against the Proteas in South Africa and have never come close to beating the hosts in any of those games.
But Ngidi is not focusing on those stats as the defeat against Bangladesh in the World Cup is still fresh in his mind.
“We’re more focused and prepared for this tour. We’ve played against Bangladesh in the past and they have beaten us.”
“To be honest, I’ve got a point to prove. We ran up against them in the World Cup and they got the better of us.”
In that match, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan made 78 and 75 respectively while Mahmudullah struck an unbeaten 46 off 33 balls to power Bangladesh to 330-6, which proved too much for the Proteas as they finished on 309-8 from their 50 overs.
Both South Africa and Bangladesh then went onto have a very mediocre World Cup campaign as both teams failed to qualify for the knockout stage.