 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium took a somber turn on Saturday.){kind=link}
The high-octane IPL 2026 clash between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium took a somber turn on Saturday, April 25, when South African pacer Lungi Ngidi suffered a severe on-field injury.
In a remarkable display of coordination and emergency response, the Delhi Traffic Police created a dedicated ‘Green Corridor’, ensuring the injured cricketer reached the hospital in just 11 minutes during peak evening traffic—a journey that typically takes nearly double that time.
The Incident: A Frightening Fall at Arun Jaitley Stadium
The scare occurred in the second over of Punjab’s massive 265-run chase. Ngidi, stationed in the deep, attempted to pouch a mishit from opener Priyansh Arya off the bowling of Axar Patel. Misjudging the ball’s trajectory while airborne, the Proteas pacer landed heavily on his back, with the back of his head striking the turf with significant force. The stadium fell silent as medical staff rushed to the field, eventually placing Ngidi in a neck brace and stretchering him into an ambulance after he complained of acute headache and neck pain.
11 Minutes to Safety: Coordination at Its Best
With the clock ticking and Delhi’s weekend traffic at its peak, ACP Traffic Sanjay Singh and DCP Nishant Gupta orchestrated a seamless transit to BLK-Max Super Speciality Hospital in Rajendra Nagar. By coordinating with the Police Control Room (PCR), they cleared a 7.5-kilometer path through the city’s heart. The ambulance, which departed the stadium shortly before 6:00 PM, arrived at the emergency ward in a record 11 minutes. DC Chairman and co-owner Kiran Kumar Grandhi was later seen at the hospital to monitor the pacer’s condition personally.
Medical Update: Relief for the Delhi Capitals Camp
In a major relief for fans and the DC management, medical evaluations including a CT scan reportedly returned normal results. The IPL issued an official statement confirming that Ngidi is stable and was discharged later that evening to rejoin the team hotel.
While the pacer was replaced on the field by concussion substitute Vipraj Nigam, the swift medical intervention prevented a potentially life-threatening situation. Despite the scare, the match saw a record-breaking performance from DC’s KL Rahul, who smashed an unbeaten 152*, the highest score by an Indian in T20 history.