Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander deemed fit ahead of the India series

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding India‘s tour of South Africa. The challenging series gets underway on January 5. Both the teams have geared up and have been preparing for the series long enough. The Proteas camp feels a lot more certain now as pacers Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander have been deemed fit to play.

If there’s one team that has been haunted by injuries to its speedsters, it has to be South Africa. However, it will be a huge relief for the fans that the duo is fit and available to play. Earlier, there were concerns about Morkel and Philander’s fitness.

No injury concerns 

Proteas bowling’s centrepiece Dale Steyn is also expected to be ready for the India series. The South African speedster has been out of action from international cricket for over a year and there cannot be a better stage for him to make a comeback.

While he didn’t feature in the final of their domestic T20 tournament, Steyn has been named in the South African Invitational XI squad. It will be a three-day match against Zimbabwe in Paarl, slated to commence on 20th December.

Now even the likes of Morkel and Philander have been deemed fit. Dr Shuaib Manjra who has been the head of CSA medical committee confirmed the same.

“Morne is back and fit to play. He is doing fine and he is also expected to play in the international against Zimbabwe. Even Vernon and Chris Morris are back to bowling. There are no more injury concerns among pacers in the team” he was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

Ever since his comeback, Morkel has been quite impressive with a seven-wicket haul in the three-day cup for the Easterns. As for Philander, he is still trying to find his groove. Chris Morris did well for the Titans with 8 wickets in five games.

“The selectors are likely to announce the South African squad for the India series by next week,” informed Dr Manjra.

This is going to be India’s first big foreign assignment under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. The South African team has proved to be a phenomenal unit at home. In fact, they have never been defeated in a series by India at home. Thus, Kohli’s men would be looking forward to recreating history.