Injured de Villiers out of Champions League
AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the remainder of the Champions League Twenty20 after fracturing a finger on his left hand during a Royal Challengers Bangalore training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
- ESPNcricinfo staff
- Updated: September 28, 2011 02:15 PM IST
AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the remainder of the Champions League Twenty20 after fracturing a finger on his left hand during a Royal Challengers Bangalore training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. In his absence, either Tillakaratne Dilshan or Arun Karthik will keep wicket.
The injury could put de Villiers in doubt for part of Australia's tour of South Africa, which begins with a Twenty20 international on October 13. South Africa's team manager Mohammad Moosajee told ESPNcricinfo that de Villiers will consult with Cricket South Africa's hand specialists on his return home. "He will probably be coming back to South Africa tonight," he said. "He will see our panel of hand specialists after that, and we will decide what the plan of action is.
"I understand from the Bangalore physio that he broke the third finger on his left hand during a fielding drill. It is quite serious, that's why he is coming back."
The series will be de Villiers' first after taking over as South Africa's limited-overs captain from Graeme Smith in June. South Africa play two Twenty20s against Australia, followed by three one-dayers that begin on October 19.
Royal Challengers had lost their first game of the CLT20 against Warriors on September 23. With three league games in hand, another loss would make a semi-final berth highly unlikely. However, three wins out of three would make qualification almost a certainty - two other sides in Group B would need to be tied on three wins for net run rates to come into contention, and Royal Challengers' net run rate did not suffer greatly in their last-ball loss to Warriors.
Virat Kohli said Royal Challengers will miss de Villiers' experience. "Not having AB is a big loss," he said. "But we have quality players in our squad who can cope with it."
Royal Challenger play Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore on Thursday, with games against Somerset and South Australia scheduled later on.