South Africa have suffered a massive setback ahead of their upcoming three-Test tour of Australia with batter Keegan Petersen pulling out after suffering a hamstring team over the weekend.
Notably, Petersen hurt his hamstring during the CSA T20 Challenge final and had to be stretchered off the field. As per reports, he will now need between six to eight weeks to recover from the injury and thus will have to miss the upcoming Australia tour, which gets underway on December 17.
This will the second tour Petersen will miss since making his international debut in 2021 as prior to this, he had contracted Covid-19 last year and was left out of the touring party to New Zealand, said a report in ESPNCricinfo on Thursday.
The report said the CSA is also waiting for an all-clear on the fitness of spinner Keshav Maharaj, who suffered a groin injury at the men’s T20 World Cup 2022 and was unable to run while batting against the Netherlands in South Africa’s last match.
The report further said that Maharaj’s fitness will be assessed in the next couple of days before the squad for the Australia tour is announced at the end of the week.
In Petersen’s absence, the selectors could choose the experienced Rassie van der Dussen, who has recovered from the fracture in his finger suffered during a match against England in August due to which he missed the T20 World Cup.