South African pacer Kagiso Rabada and Test captain Temba Bavuma, who are not part of the Proteas white-ball cricket mix to gear up for the Test series against India, won't feature in domestic cricket. Bavuma and Rabada were due to return for the Lions clash against the Dolphins on Thursday. However, the Lions confirmed that both star Proteas players won't be available for the clash.
"Bavuma has a personal matter to attend to and Rabada has a heel niggle," the statement read.
If Rabada's injury turns out to be a bit more serious, he could miss out on the first Test against India.
The 28-year-old's absence will leave the hosts without all of their frontline pacers, which will kick off on December 28.
Anrich Nortje was ruled out of the series as he continues to rehabilitate from a lower-back stress fracture. On the other hand, Lungi Ngidi had to withdraw from the T20I series with an ankle sprain.
Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen are the two other speedsters who were released from the T20I squad and they will also miss out on the ODI series.
They will participate in domestic cricket to prepare for the Test format against India.
India Test Squad List Against South Africa. Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, and Rohit Sharma (c).
South Africa Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne.