AB de Villiers ruled out of the first three ODIs against India

The Test series is down and dusted, the hosts won the affair in the whites 2-1. Now it’s time for the top two teams to meet in the limited-overs format. While India is atop the Test rankings and South Africa is No.2, it is the other way round in ODIs. Ahead of the series, the Proteas have been dealt a lethal blow as batting great AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the first three ODIs.

The first match of the series will be played on February 1 on at Kingsmead in Durban. De Villiers has been persistently trying to elongate his career until the 2019 ODI World Cup that he aims to win for the national team. Thus he has opted out of Tests though he played all the three against the touring Indian side and played a substantial hand in their wins in Cape Town and Centurion.

He suffered a finger injury on his right index finger in the second inning of the third Test match in Johannesburg. As per medical evaluation, the star cricketer will need up to two weeks to fully recover and be match fit. Thus Cricket South Africa (CSA) today (January 30) announced that AB de Villiers will not be available for the first half of the six-match ODI series against the Indians.

The selectors have decided against naming a replacement and thus Khaya Zondo can expect to win his debut cap sooner. De Villiers will be back for the 4th ODI that will be played at the Wanderers. It is a special occasion since the match will be a pink ODI.

In the second to last ODI that he played, the 33-year-old played a magnificent knock of 176 against the Bangladesh team and at one point a double hundred looked pretty much possible. Overall he has played 225 matches and scored 9515 runs at a stupendous average of 54.

Here is the South African ODI squad for the series against India:

Faf du Plessis (C), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Lungisani Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khayelihle Zondo.