South Africa suffered a big blow; Star all-rounder ruled out of T20 World Cup 2022
The T20 World Cup will begin next Thursday, October 16, which is just one week away. All the teams have been settled and will reach Australia in a few days' time to start practising for the upcoming event. The first round of the competition will see eight teams fighting to qualify for the next round.
Top four teams from the first round will join eight teams who have already qualified for the "Super 12" stage. Thus, it will be a 16-team tournament just like the last edition, and the hosts, Australia, will defend their title.
However, just one week ahead of the tournament, South Africa dealt with a huge blow as their star all-rounder, who did an excellent job in the third and final T20 against India on Tuesday, has been ruled out of the upcoming World Cup.
Dwaine Pretorius has suffered a fractured left thumb and has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup in Australia. On Thursday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced the statement through their official Twitter handle. Notably, they have not announced a replacement yet for the all-rounder.
#PROTEAS SQUAD UPDATE 🚨
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) October 6, 2022
All-rounder Dwaine Pretorius has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against India and the proceeding ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to a fracture of his left thumb.#BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/SZqvx0x5Ro
CSA tweeted, "All-rounder Dwaine Pretorius has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against India and the proceeding ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to a fracture of his left thumb."
South Africa are placed in Group 2 in the "Super 12" stage of the tournament, along with Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and two qualifying teams from the first round.
The Proteas will open their campaign on October 24 (Monday) at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart. South Africa are currently in India playing in the white-ball series. India won the three-match T20I series 2-1, and the three-match ODI series is underway.
Dwaine Pretorius played in the last T20I and was the pick of the bowlers in his team. He ended up with a bowling figure of 3/21 in 3.3 overs. This will surely be a big setback for the Proteas as he was a valuable asset with both bat and ball.
South Africa's T20 World Cup Squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Rillee Rossouw, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
Reserves: Bjorn Fortuin, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen.