South Africa's Ngidi to miss IPL in latest setback for Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals' preparations for the new Indian Premier League (IPL) season suffered another blow on Friday when fast bowler Lungi Ngidi was ruled out of the tournament due to a lower-back injury.

England batter Brook pulled out of the IPL on Thursday following the death of his grandmother, leaving Delhi without two key players for their campaign.

Delhi have named Australia all-rounder Jake Fraser-McGurk as replacement for Ngidi.

South Africa's cricket board (CSA) said on Friday Ngidi sustained the injury last month and was not expected to return to play until April.

IPL released a statement that the South African seamer has been ruled out of the upcoming season due to an injury. It added that Fraser-McGurk joined the Delhi-based franchise with his reserve price of Rs 50 lakhs.

"Delhi Capitals (DC) named all-rounder Jake Fraser-McGurk as a replacement for Lungisani Ngidi for the upcoming edition of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Ngidi, who has played 14 IPL matches and has 25 wickets against his name, was ruled out of the TATA IPL 2024 due to injury. Jake Fraser-McGurk has played 2 ODIs for Australia. He joins DC for his reserve price of INR 50 Lac," IPL said in a statement.

The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will start on March 22, with defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set to clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a South Indian derby at MA Chidambaram Stadium.

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