A couple of days ahead of the first One-Day International against India, South Africa suffered a huge blow as their star batsman AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the first three games due to a finger injury.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) have not named a replacement for the batsman and are hopeful of seeing the former skipper returning to action for the last three ODIs in the six-match series.
The right-handed batsman suffered the injury while taking Indian captain Virat Kohli’s catch in the first innings of the third and last Test in Johannesburg last week. He had came out to bat in South Africa’s second innings but remained out of the field for a long duration due to the injury.
“De Villiers sustained the injury to his right index finger during the third Test against India and will require up to two weeks to make a full recovery,” Cricket South Africa (CSA) said in a media release on Tuesday (January 30).
“The CSA medical team is hopeful De Villiers will recover in time for the fourth ‘Pink’ ODI at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Saturday, February 10th. The selectors have opted not to name a replacement,” the release added.
Missing de Villiers would be a big blow for the hosts who can concede their number one rank to India if they lose the upcoming series 4-2 or by a bigger margin.
The 33-year old, who was recently named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year for 2017, did well in the recently-concluded Test, scoring 211 to lead the run-scoring charts for the Proteas. He also boasts of a stellar track record against India, having scored 1295 runs in 29 outings, including six centuries.
Meanwhile, the six-match series will kick start on Thursday (February 1) in Durban. The ODI series will be followed by three-match T20 International series. The hosts won the three-match Test series 2-1, but the momentum is with Indian team which won the last Test by 63 runs following remarkable comeback with the ball.
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