AB de Villiers hit by another injury, ruled out of India Twenty20 series
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa talisman AB de Villiers is injured again to be ruled out of the T20 series against India.
A Cricket South Africa statement said the player, who turned 34 on Saturday, hurt his left knee ahead of the final ODI at Centurion on Friday. Though he played the game, India won to seal the series 5-1.
Cricket South Africa said De Villiers has not recovered with team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee quoted as saying: “He suffered a blow to the knee while batting ahead of the sixth ODI, and although he passed a fitness test on Friday, the injury worsened significantly throughout the match. The CSA medical team has advised he is given a period of rest and rehabilitation to make a full recovery ahead of the fourtest series against Australia starting next month.”
Although De Villiers’ returned after a long break to play an important role in the 2-1 Test series win over India, a finger injury kept him out of the first three ODIS. It robbed the series of the prime attraction -- De Villiers versus Virat Kohli.
Kohli dominated the series while De Villiers managed only 26, 6 and 30 in the last three ODIS. He twice fell to Hardik Pandya while the other batsmen fumbled against spin. In the last ODI, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed him.
CSA also will be cautious with De Villiers as Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock too have injuries. The Australia Test series starts on March 1.