South Africa are still fretting over the fitness of their key batting all rounder Jean-Paul Duminy ahead of their opening Test against hosts India commencing at Mohali on November 5.
Duminy, who split the webbing on his right hand while going for a hard return catch in the third One-Day International of the five-game series at Rajkot on October 18, will know on November 1 how much it has healed when the bandage comes off.
“He would not be playing in the (two-day) game here (at the Cricket Club of India against Board President’s XI commencing tomorrow). His chances of playing at Mohali are 50:50 at present,” the team’s media manager Lerato Malekutu told reporters here after the team’s practice extended training session at the Brabourne stadium.
The 31-year-old left-handed batsman and right arm off break bowler from Cape Town did not play in the last two ODIs at Chennai and Mumbai.
Duminy could not make a significant impact in the two Tests that he figured in on the Proteas previous visit in 2010, failing to reach double figures in the matches that he played at Nagpur and Kolkata.
However, his experience of playing on Indian wickets could be missed if he’s unable to play at Mohali.
The other injured key player of the ODI and Test squad, fast bowler Morne Morkel, “is doing fine”, said Malekutu.
The gangling pacer also picked up a leg injury in the same ODI at Rajkot and he too missed SA’s last two games of the series.
Meanwhile, in a bid to shore up their batting against the spin threat posed by Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the visitors have roped in former Australia batsman Michael Hussey as a batting consultant in the tune-up period to the four-Test series.
Hussey joined the squad on Wednesday and was present to guide the team members during the net session held at the Brabourne on Thursday morning.
The former Test player would also be with the team at Mohali for a couple of days before flying home on November 3.
