Former India batter Abhinav Mukund compared Lungi Ngidi’s slower ball to one that Dwayne Bravo used to bowl after the Delhi Capitals (DC) pacer outfoxed Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) Nicholas Pooran in the IPL 2026 clash on Wednesday, April 1. Admitting batters are well aware that Ngidi will bowl slower balls, he praised the pacer’s skill level for picking up with wickets with it.

Ngidi starred with 3-27 from 3.4 overs as DC beat LSG by six wickets in match number five of IPL 2026 at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The right-arm pacer got all his three wickets with the slower ball, including the big one of Nicholas Pooran (8), who was knocked over by an off-cutter.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Mukund compared Ngidi’s slower ball to that of former West Indies captain and IPL legend Bravo. Asked what makes Ngidi’s slower ball extremely lethal, Mukund explained:

“I think it’s the effectiveness. It’s very easy to say take pace off, but skill levels at which Ngidi is operating, I think you can compare it to a certain DJ Bravo, who used to do the same thing. The revs and the dip that you get, it’s very hard for the batters to line up them. I think every batter is almost committing to it and unable to play anything more after that.

“Pooran was completely outfoxed. He picked the slower ball, yet couldn’t do anything about it,” the 36-year-old added.

After Pooran, Ngidi also added the scalps of Anrich Nortje (0) and Mohsin Khan (0), who looked completely clueless against the South African pacer’s skills.

“It’s so difficult to pick up out of his hand” – Dale Steyn on Ngidi’s heroics in LSG vs DC IPL 2026 match

Former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn opined that Ngidi’s slower balls are highly effective because they are very difficult to pick from his hand. He added that Pooran was only one of the many batters who have been outfoxed by Ngidi’s skills. Steyn commented:

“He bowls that slower ball so well. A lot of batters don’t see that ball from Ngidi even though you know that it’s coming. It’s so difficult to pick up out of his hand. Nicky P can consider himself just one of the many guys that have been foxed before.”

Apart from Ngidi, DC left-arm pacer T Natarajan also impressed with figures of 3-27 against LSG. Sent into bat, LSG were held to 141. In the chase, DC got over the line in 17.1 overs.