He last played a Test for South Africa in August 2024 against West Indies.
South Africa announced their playing XI for the 2025 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, scheduled to take place at Lord’s from Wednesday.
Lungi Ngidi, who played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025, has been preferred over Dane Paterson, who had played a significant role in South Africa’s run to the WTC final. Lungi Ngidi last played a Test for South Africa in August 2024 against West Indies. South Africa will be led by Temba Bavuma for the WTC final against Australia.
Lungi Ngidi, who was acquired for his base price of INR 1 crore by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, had limited game time with the newly-crowned champions. He played just two matches for RCB, taking four wickets at an economy rate of 10.13. He registered his best figures of 3/30 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) but went for expensive figures of 1/51 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the next match.
Ngidi missed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s final group match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as well as the playoffs and final because of WTC commitments.
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Dane Paterson, on the other hand, had a decent World Test Championship campaign with South Africa, picking 21 wickets from five matches at an average of 23.33. Paterson has played just seven matches since his Test debut in 2020 and hastaken 25 wickets at an average of 26.24.
South Africa are looking to clinch just their second ICC trophy after having previously won the 1998 KnockOut Trophy. South Africa had reached the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they lost to India in a thriller.
Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verrynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
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