Chennai: The South African cricket team has suffered a potential double blow as star pair JP Duminy and Morne Morkel have suffered injury.
Duminy lacerated a finger while trying to field a shot from his own bowling in the third One-Day International (ODI) against India at Rajkot and will miss the remaining two ODIs of the series, cricket.com.au reported on Tuesday.
There is a question mark on Morkel for Thursday's match after he ended up with a sore leg following the man-of-the-match performance in Sunday's encounter. South Africa lead the series 2-1.
Duminy wrung his hand in pain immediately after the incident on Sunday but continued to remain on field, but South Africa have since declared his unavailability, naming Dean Elgar as his back-up.
Elgar is the incumbent South Africa Test opener but hasn't played ODI cricket since 2012. The last of his five ODIs came in a series in England that year and he was dropped after he scored just 93 runs at an average of 23.25.
The 28-year-old is also a part-time left-arm spinner, so will likely account for some of the overs originally allotted to Duminy if selected.
The Proteas also have batsman Khaya Zondo in their squad, or could opt to feature a frontline bowler from among Kyle Abbott, Chris Morris or Aaron Phangiso in the absence of Duminy.
Previously in this series, they played four bowlers and the pair of Duminy and Farhaan Behardien completed the fifth bowler's quota.
Morkel might have to sit out after the right-arm quick suffered an injury during his sixth over but continued bowling and completed his 10-over spell, only later revealing the turnaround could be too short for him to take his place on Thursday.
"I'm a little bit concerned about it, but we've got a quality medical team that will help me over the next two days. I pulled up in the fourth ball of my sixth over a little bit. But let's see. I'm not confident I'll be ready for the next game. It's just a matter now of the next 24 hours," Morkel said.
