South Africa, ahead of the third ODI against India, suffered a significant blow as seamer Nandre Burger and batter Tony de Zorzi have been ruled out of the fixture due to injury.
Burger felt right hamstring discomfort while bowling in the second ODI on Wednesday, while Tony de Zorzi experienced pain in the same area while batting and couldn’t continue during the run chase.
Both players underwent scans on Friday, which confirmed the extent of their respective injuries. De Zorzi has also been ruled out of the upcoming five-match T20 International (T20I) series against India, which gets underway on Tuesday, and will return home. No replacement has been named for De Zorzi.
Fast bowler Kwena Maphaka did not progress as expected during the final phase of his rehabilitation from a left hamstring injury and will not be fit in time for the start of the T20I series. He has been withdrawn from the squad. Seamer Lutho Sipamla has been added to the side.
KL Rahul’s team India will take on Temba Bavuma’s South Africa in the series-decider third ODI at Visakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The series is tied 1-1, with India winning the first match in Ranchi and South Africa levelling things up in Raipur.
Both previous games saw the team bat first after posting more than 340 runs.
Virat Kohli has been in a brilliant run in the series with two back-to-back centuries, while Kuldeep Yadav has scalped the most wickets in the series, with five wickets under his belt in two matches.
South Africa Squad: Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Ottneil Baartman, Rubin Hermann, Prenelan Subrayen.