Delhi Capitals’ (DC) seamer, Lungi Ngidi, suffered a nasty head injury during match 35 of the ongoing IPL season against Punjab Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday, April 25.
The incident happened in the third over of Punjab’s chase as Ngidi fell backwards while backpedalling and lost his footing while attempting to catch the ball. He landed awkwardly and hurt the back of his head and neck while doing so. A team of doctors and physios rushed to his head, tied a brace around his neck, and put him on a stretcher.
He was then moved into an ambulance and taken immediately to a hospital for treatment and diagnosis of the injury. While Ngidi was found to be out of danger and was safely discharged later, Delhi Capitals were not allowed another overseas player as his concussion replacement.
Why were Delhi Capitals not allowed to bring an overseas player as a concussion replacement for Lungi Ngidi against PBKS?
It left many puzzled when Capitals were not allowed an overseas player as the concussion replacement for Ngidi. They had to bring in Vipraj Nigam as Ngidi’s concussion substitute.
Well, the answer to that question lies in the IPL Playing Conditions, effective 1st March 2026. Section 1.2.6 of the Match Playing Conditions clearly states that a team can only use four overseas players at any stage in the game.Delhi had named four overseas players in their playing XI for the game, i.e. David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Pathum Nissanka and Tristan Stubbs.
Therefore, they had already used the overseas quota of four and weren’t allowed to use a fifth overseas player.
“A team may not have more than 4 Overseas players on the field of play at any time during any Match. Thus, if the team names the maximum 4 Overseas players in its starting XI, an Overseas player may only take the field as a substitute fielder if the player that he is replacing is an Overseas player. If the team names less than 4 Overseas players in its starting XI, Overseas players may only enter the field of play as substitute fielders to the extent that by doing so, they do not take the total number of Overseas players representing that team on the field to more than 4,” reads the law.
Ideally, a seamer should have replaced Ngidi. But since Delhi had not put the name of any seamer in their list of subs except Dushmantha Chameera, who is an overseas, they could only pick Vipraj Nigam. Nigam was the only other bowler named in the list of subs. Therefore, despite being a leg-spinner and not a like-for-like replacement, Nigam was allowed to come as a concussion sub for Ngidi.
