Ahead of the high voltage clash against India on Wednesday, June 5, South Africa received a major blow – veteran pacer Dale Steyn was ruled out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 with a shoulder injury.
Left arm fast bowler Beuran Hendricks has been approved as the star bowler’s replacement, though Steyn’s boots will be too big to fill.
After missing out on the warm-up matches initially and then the first couple of games of the World Cup schedule, it was expected that Steyn might feature in the all important game against India. However, as per the latest update, Steyn will not feature in the remainder of the tournament.
For South Africa, this comes as another shocker. After heartbreaking defeats in their first two World Cup games against England and Bangladesh, the team management had been relying on their experienced players to help South Africa bring their campaign back on track.
Now, with Steyn out of the equation and Lungi Ngidi injured against Bangladesh, Kagiso Rabada will feel the pressure of leading the attack.
The announcement comes as a surprise because Steyn hasn’t played any competitive cricket after being ruled out of the IPL in late April, featuring in only a couple of games for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Despite the injury sustained in the IPL, Steyn was named in the World Cup Squad and was expected to recover during the course of the tournament.
Now with Steyn being ruled out of the tournament, it would be interesting to see the South Africa Playing XI which takes the field against India and how they proceed further in the tournament.