In a big blow for South Africa ahead of the clash with India, seamer Dale Steyn has been ruled out of the ongoing World Cup after failing to recover from a shoulder injury.
Steyn, South Africa’s fifth highest ODI wicket-taker of all time, withdrew from the Indian Premier League with the same issue and has already missed the first two games of his team’s campaign at the Cricket World Cup.
The South African quick bowler had surgery for this problem in 2016 and has been plagued with issues with his shoulder before and since that procedure. He has had a recurrence of the problem and will be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
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South Africa have started this tournament with two losses, with defeats to England and Bangladesh in their opening fixtures. They are due to take on India on Wednesday 5 June at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton. They will now be going into that important fixture, and the rest of this tournament, without Steyn.
Steyn will be replaced in the South African squad by left-arm quick Beuran Hendricks who made his ODI debut in January this year.