Early Life

Ngidi grew up in Kloof, Durban and received a scholarship to attend Highbury Preparatory School. Growing up, Ngidi's mother was a domestic worker and his father was a maintenance worker at a local school. Ngidi received a scholarship to attend Hilton College School. During his first three years at Hilton, Ngidi represented Hilton at rugby before ceasing to focus on cricket. During his time at Hilton, Ngidi was coached by former Zimbabwe all-rounder Neil Johnson.

After graduating from Hilton, Ngidi enrolled in a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Industrial Sociology at the University of Pretoria.

Domestic and T20 Franchise Career

Ngidi was included in the Northerns cricket team for the 2015 Africa T20 Cup. In July 2016, Cricket South Africa named him Africa T20 Cup Player of the Year. In August 2017, he was named in Benoni Zalmi's squad for the inaugural T20 Global League season. However, in October 2017, Cricket South Africa initially postponed the tournament until November 2018, after which it was canceled shortly afterwards.

In January 2018, Ngidi was purchased by the Chennai Super Kings as part of the 2018 IPL auction. In October 2018, he was named in the Tshwane Spartans squad for the inaugural edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. In March 2019, he was named by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as one of eight players to watch ahead of the 2019 Indian Premier League tournament.

In September 2019, Ngidi was named in the Tshwane Spartans team's squad for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In April 2021, he was named in the Northerns squad ahead of the 2021–22 South African cricket season.

In February 2022, Ngidi was purchased by Delhi Capitals as part of the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League tournament.

In May 2023, Major League Cricket (MLC) team San Francisco Unicorns announced the signing of Ngidi for their inaugural season.

International Career

In January 2017, Ngidi was included in South Africa's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the series against Sri Lanka. He made his T20I debut for South Africa on January 20, 2017 against Sri Lanka and was named man of the match. During the T20I series, Ngidi was named in the South African squad for the One Day International (ODI) matches against Sri Lanka. However, he was ruled out of the ODI series due to an abdominal injury.

In January 2018, Ngidi was included in South Africa's Test squad ahead of the second Test against India. He made his Test debut for South Africa on January 13, 2018 against India. He scored 7/87 in the game, including 6/39 in the second innings as South Africa won by 135 runs. Later that month, he was named in South Africa's One Day International (ODI) squad for the series against India. He made his ODI debut on February 7, 2018 against India.

In March 2018, Cricket South Africa awarded Ngidi a national contract ahead of the 2018–19 season. In April 2019, he was named in South Africa's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 4 March 2020, in the second ODI against Australia, Ngidi took his first five-wicket haul in ODI cricket. In the same match, he became South Africa's fastest bowler by number of matches, taking 50 wickets in ODIs in his 26th match.

In September 2021, Ngidi was named in South Africa's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. In July 2022, in the first match of the series against England, Ngidi took his first five-wicket haul in T20I cricket.

Activism

In July 2020, Ngidi called on the national team to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement in South African cricket and urged the team to support the movement. He also addressed institutionalized racism in cricket. Ngidi said he wouldn't mind taking the lead in the team's efforts, stating in part: “We're all back together in person. Of course we talked about it and everyone knows what's going on. But it is also currently a difficult (problem) because we are not together.I think it's something that's hard to talk about when we're all still apart, but as soon as we can play again we'll address it. His comments drew opposing views and criticism from former Proteas Rudi Steyn, Pat Symcox and Boeta Dippenaar. At least 30 former Proteas, all players of colour, along five coaches, released a collective statement, showing support for Ngidi and the BLM movement, while urging Cricket South Africa to "be unequivocal about its position and to make sure the problem is confronted".