'Special' Ngidi has an 'amazing future' – du Plessis

Faf du Plessis heaped praised on "special" Lungi Ngidi after he helped South Africa to an unassailable 2-0 series lead against India, and predicts both the Test debutant and Kagiso Rabada can "carry this [South Africa] attack in the future".

South Africa began day five in Centurion requiring seven wickets – a target they managed before the lunch break, owed to impressive bowling and fielding, but also to a self-inflicted India capitulation.

Lungi Ngidi continued to impress on his debut, claiming his first-class best figures of 6/39. In recent years, only Lance Klusener (8/64 against India in 1996) and Kyle Abbott (7/29 against Pakistan in 2013) have picked up better bowling figures on debut for the Proteas.

"It hasn't really sunk it," Ngidi said in the post-match presentation. "I'm chuffed with my performance. I just tried to keep it simple – just hang it outside off-stump. There was a bit of movement off the pitch and the one that came back in seemed to get wickets. It wasn't the fastest pitch so we had to adapt to the conditions and use what we had to make do with."

Du Plessis has been mightily impressed with the fast bowler in his first Test outing. "It was a special performance from Ngidi," said the South Africa captain. "He's a great guy and we welcome him into the team. He has an amazing future. We always look for personalities with new players and he is a fantastic human being. We're looking forward to seeing him and KG (Rabada) carry this attack in the future."

Du Plessis was delighted with his team’s performance. "Obviously over the last five days it took a lot of hard work. We had to put a lot in – bowling and batting were tough but we were on top most of the time. In the field particularly, we were amazing. We were very disappointed after the last 45 minutes on day one and we knew we'd need some more character after that. We knew anything over 250 would be challenging."

Virat Kohli was not so chipper about his team’s performance. "It's the batsmen that have let the team down, ultimately," said the India captain. "We tried our best and we just weren't good enough. They played better than us and they're deserved winners."

The disappointing result put his own personal contribution in the shade. "I want to leave everything on the field for my team," added Kohli. "I'll continue to do that. The 150 means nothing right now because we've lost the game and the series. A 50 or 30 if we'd won would have meant more to me. Personal milestones mean nothing to mean if we lose as a team.”