“The injury has responded slower than expected”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis’ participation in the upcoming tour of India could be in doubt as he is in a race against time to make a full recovery from a knee injury.
Du Plessis, who has been named in the Test, ODI and Twenty20 squads, injured his knee during a training session prior to the home series against New Zealand in August and has not played since.
Du Plessis was initially scheduled to be out of action for four weeks, but his injury has taken longer than expected to heal.
“The injury has responded slower than expected,” South Africa’s team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee said. “Faf saw a knee specialist in Cape Town last week, where he received a second cortisone injection into the area. This seemed to have worked as he is currently pain-free. However, we need to see how he progresses. The plan is to commence training next week and build up to full intensity by the end of the month.”
However, du Plessis is not the only player South Africa are sweating over as fellow batsman Rilee Rossouw has been ruled out of the Twenty20 series after suffering a stress fracture in his left foot. But, the 25-year-old is expected to be fully fit for the ODI series, which starts three days after the conclusion of the Twenty20 series.
“Healing for this type of injury takes six to eight weeks,” Moosajee explained. “Rilee is currently non-weight bearing in a moon boot but he is being assessed weekly in Bloemfontein. A decision will be made as to when he can start full-weight bearing and light running, but the aim is to have him ready for the ODIs.”
However, there is some good news for the Proteas as Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris are all expected to be fully fit for the tour of India. Amla was suffering from a chronic neck issue and a broken bone in his left thumb, while Tahir has made a full recovery from a hamstring injury he picked up while representing Nottinghamshire. Morris meanwhile “should be fine for the start of the India tour” after recovering from a groin injury.