South Africa's worst fears were realised on Saturday (January 6) when Dale Steyn failed to get through his first full day in the field without sustaining yet another injury, and was ruled out of the remainder of the Test series against India.
Steyn sustained serious tissue damage to his left heel in what was termed a "freakish injury", and left the field of play before Tea on the second day of the first Test. He subsequently went for scans that revealed the extent of the damage.
"During Dale's 18th over, he landed awkwardly in the footholds, causing significant strain in the foot, leading to tissue damage on the underside of the foot in the heel area," South Africa team manager Doctor Mohammad Moosajee, who is also a medical doctor, said after the end of day two. "He is unlikely to bowl in this Test match because the recovery period could be anything from four to six weeks."
Although that suggests that Steyn will not take part in the remaining Tests of the three-match series, and is likely to miss some of the limited overs leg of the tour, Dr. Moosajee said that Steyn would visit a leading ankle surgeon from Cricket South Africa's medical committee to attain a second opinion on Sunday.
In the short term, Steyn is unlikely to bat in South Africa's second innings. "At the moment it's quite tender and extremely uncomfortable to run. Obviously with some anti-inflammatories and rest overnight, who knows how he might turn up tomorrow. But at this stage he's unlikely to be able to run and we would probably like him to be non-weight-bearing," said Dr. Moosajee.
The match against India was Steyn's first Test since November 2016, and only his fifth since November 2015. After picking up a groin strain in the first Test of South Africa's 2015 tour of India, the 34-year-old twice injured his right shoulder - with the second time being the most severe. He also picked up several niggles in the course of his 13-month recovery.
Steyn came into this series without a first-class match under his belt, with coach Ottis Gibson saying it would be a risk to pick him in a three-man pace attack. Yet Steyn's form was good enough for Gibson to convince South Africa's selectors to include him in a four-man pace attack, a move that looked all the wiser on Saturday afternoon.
However Dr. Moosajee stressed that the injury was not an indication that Steyn, who took 2 for 51 in India's innings to come within three wickets of becoming South Africa's leading Test wicket-taker, was not ready to return to top-level cricket.
"This unfortunate injury was freakish because of the way he landed in the footholds, and is in no way related to his bowling loads or not being match ready," he said.
Either way, South Africa will need to find a way to win the Test without Steyn - a position that they have been in before. When Steyn broke a bone in his shoulder during the first innings in his previous Test - against Australia in Perth - it was left to Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj to pull off a memorable win. At least this time they will have Morne Morkel for support.
"Luckily this time we went with four seamers so we still have three who can do the work, otherwise Temba (Bavuma) would have had to bowl again," joked Rabada. But it's not nice for Dale because he's just come back from injury, so we're just feeling very sympathetic for him. It's not a nice thing, but we have to find a way to win this Test match.
