Cape Town: Talismanic South African batsman AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the first three ODIs against India due to a finger injury. However, Cricket South Africa haven’t yet named any replacement, hoping that he would recover in time for the fourth match.
The first ODI begins in Kingsmead on Thursday (February 1).
The star batsman injured his finger while attempting to take Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s catch in the first innings of the Johannesburg Test and he had stayed outside the field for a long period of time due to bruising although became out to bat in the second innings. Also, the pitch at the Wanderers, which came under a lot of criticism for the uneven bounce has been rated, ‘poor’ by the ICC.
“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,” a media release by Cricket South Africa on Tuesday, read.
The release further added, “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 right-hander, who is also known as Mr. 360 because of his abilities of scoring runs in all parts of the ground was recently named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year 2017. His injury would be a huge loss to the Proteas as the 33-year-old has had a terrific record against India in 50-over cricket. Averaging 52, the stylish batsman has 1295 runs, including six centuries to his name in 29 matches.
In the recently concluded Test series, he had ended up being South Africa’s highest run-getter with 211 runs.
Duminy expects a competitive ODI series
South African all-rounder JP Duminy expects the upcoming six-match ODI series against India to be more competitive. South Africa and India are separated by just a point in the ICC rankings.
“They are a phenomenal team..You have seen over the years that they have managed to compete in all conditions around the world. You don’t expect anything less from them in South African conditions. They have some new faces, a few young players, but with a lot of talent,” he said.
“Even though we won the first two Test matches, India competed. That is what you want to see from high-profile teams. India are the No.1 ranked Test nation in the world, you expect nothing less from them. It’s going to be a highly competitive series both in the ODI’s and T20’s,” added the southpaw, who also felt that South Africa need to have a good start in the series.