To compound South Africa’s woes further, their strike bowler and pace spearhead Dale Steyn is uncertain to participate in the third test at Nagpur. Steyn races with time, in order to prove his fitness and get back in the playing XI for the third test. The Bangalore test which he missed was the first test in almost 6 years, from which he was ruled out.
South Africa’s captain Hashim Amla admitted that currently, Steyn was not completely fit, and his injury would take the time to heal. “I’m not 100% sure what the exact prognosis is. But it would be great if he is ready for the next Test. It would be great to have the world’s No.1 bowler back in our team,” Amla said.
South Africa seemed to be clearly missing Steyn in Bangalore, as the Indian openers were off to a flying start on the first evening of the match. Without Steyn, the visiting new ball bowlers did not seem to be impactful enough against the Indian openers.
Amla spoke about Steyn further and said, “If he was fully fit he would have played this (Bangalore) Test. So I don’t think he is fully fit at the moment. I don’t know, I’m not sure, I haven’t touched base with the physio as yet. I didn’t want to until this game is done, which it is now. In the coming days, we will probably have a better idea. “