A quiet hush fell over the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday as Punjab Kings chased a mammoth 265 runs against the Delhi Capitals. Lungi Ngidi, stationed at mid-off, ran back, trying to take a catch after Priyansh Arya's slashed effort went high. The South African seamer failed to get fingertips to it and hit the back of his head on the rock-hard ground. He immediately took a reverse tumble, putting his entire body weight on the head and stayed down.
The doctors and physio came out to check followed by a call for the ambulance to be brought in. Ngidi was then placed on a stretcher with a neck brace slid under his head. The concern was evident on everyone's faces. Delhi Capitals head coach Hemang Badani, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel, Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting all came in to check on the 30-year-old.
As the process to get Ngidi on the stretcher and safely into the ambulance continued, Dushmantha Chameera readied himself on the sidelines by limbering up. He eventually took the field after a serious pause in proceedings. Chameera was quickly replaced by Vipraj Nigam on the field.
"He (Ngidi) was shifted to the hospital in an ambulance as he complained of a headache and neck pain," said IPL in an official statement. "Ngidi is stable and is due to be discharged shortly from the hospital," the statement continued.
In the first innings, Delhi Capitals posted their biggest IPL total of 264/2 on the back of an unbeaten 152 from 67 balls by KL Rahul with support from Nitish Rana (91) at No. 3. Together they put together 220 runs for the second wicket.
