JOHANNESBURG: South Africa seamer Lungi Ngidi will play no part in a three-match home Twenty20 International series against India that starts on Sunday and is in a race to be fit for the opening Test of the tour that begins on Dec. 26.

Ngidi, 27, has a left lateral ankle sprain and will be replaced in the T20 squad by Beuran Hendricks, who made the last of his 19 appearances in the T20 format for South Africa against Ireland in July 2021.

The 33-year-old Hendricks will vie for the specialist seamer role in the side with the less experienced Ottniel Baartman, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee and Lizaad Williams. South Africa have rested premier fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for the series.

India’s tour will start with three T20 matches in Durban, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) and Johannesburg. They will then switch format for three One-day Internationals between Dec. 17-21, played in the latter two venues and Paarl.

The first Test will start on Dec. 26 in Pretoria, with the second on Jan. 3 at Newlands in Cape Town.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023