new delhi lungi ngidi knew as a child that life wasnt a bed of roses but loved the fact that on a cricket pitch the inequalities be it social or financial vanished with talent prevailing over everything elsethe 23yearold south african fast bowler has seen poverty closely but it has never been able to impede his rapid strides in international cricketer as he hopes to build on his four tests and 22 odisi was aware from a very young age obviously that my parents werent as well off as other families but we did make ends meet but i never put them under any pressure to provide things that was outside of their comfort zone and range i was okay with that ngidi told pti during an interviewngidi fondly remembers how parents of his classmates used to help him out with cricket gears as he was admitted on a sports scholarshipit was a bit of a struggle at the start but i had a lot of people who were willing to help out as my parents couldnt afford kits and stuff like thatthe school that i went to a lot of parents with whose kids i played with would pitch in with batting pads or bats to this day i havent forgotten them i still thank them for the opportunities that they gave me ngidi saidngidi like kagiso rabada is a blackafricans born in the postapartheid era however unlike ngidi rabada came from a privileged backgroundboth of them have been contemporaries since agegroup cricket and are now in the national team with rabada already establishing himself as the star player in the current setupkg rabada and i did play a lot of school cricket together come to think of it its pretty awesome to come out to the international scene and play together we get along very well and that relationship makes it a lot easier on the field in terms of communicating as well ngidi saidand the difference in their financial status could never affect their strong bondonce you are playing cricket on the field everyone is pretty equal the only thing that matters is your talent your financial background plays no role in how you hold a bat or a ballfor me that was one of the main things why i loved cricket it didnt define who i was as a person socially or financially and you know talent plays a massive role and we can see what a great player kg is as far as i am concerned i never let that hamper my progress said ngidihe couldnt play last years ipl due to injury and would love to comeback at csk as he feels a connect with the fansif the opportunity is there to go back i would love to go back i enjoyed my time at the csk lot of fans sent me a lot of messages during the time i wasnt playing for them i would like to say thank you to