“Faf seems to be struggling at the moment”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis is unlikely to play in the upcoming three-match ODI series against New Zealand as he has not sufficiently recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of the recently concluded two-match Twenty20 series.

With the first ODI scheduled to take place on Wednesday, South Africa’s national selectors are mulling over the option of adding Farhaan Behardien to the starting XI in order to bolster the Proteas’ batting line-up.

“Faf seems to be struggling at the moment,” South Africa head coach Russell Domingo said. “We are considering bringing an extra batsman into the group but that batsman will be a stand-in in case someone else gets injured because Farhaan was the stand-in.

“That means Farhaan will play now if Faf isn’t fit and we’ll probably be reshuffling our batting order.”

Du Plessis is known for coming in at number three, but with Behardien being a middle order batsmen, South Africa are likely to promote Rilee Rossouw or David Miller up the order.

In addition to du Plessis, South Africa all-rounder Jean-Paul (JP) Duminy has also been ruled out of the series as he is on paternity leave. This, according to Domingo, will give Behardien, Rossouw and Miller a golden opportunity to cement their spot in the side.

“Not having JP and Faf available helps us with the depth in our one-day batting unit and gives a chance to guys like Farhaan, Rilee and Miller to try and fight for a position,” Domingo said. “But not having Faf hampers the stability of our batting line-up. Hashim (Amla) does that stabilising job and then we’ve got a host of guys who really look to score quickly. So finding the right balance between attack and defence is going to be important for us in the one-day format.”