• Source:JND

After being rested from the white-ball leg of the India tour due to injuries, South Africa Test captain Temba Bavuma and speedster Kagiso Rabada will miss the domestic first-class matches planned before the Tests against India.

Bavuma and Rabada were slated to feature for Lions against Dolphins in Durban on Thursday but the team said the duo will not participate in the match.

"Bavuma has a personal matter to attend to and Rabada has a heel niggle," ESPNcricinfo quoted Lions as saying in a statement.

Lions coach Russell Domingo added that he felt 'disappointed' not to the star players in their playing XI.

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Rabada is still recovering from a heel niggle that had troubled him during the ODI World Cup semi-final against Australia. If the speedster doesn't get fit in time, the hosts will be left with no front-line pacer for the Tests against India.

Earlier, Anrich Nortje was ruled out of the series due to a lower-back stress fracture while Lungi Nagidi pulled out of the T20I series due to an ankle sprain and has not returned to the domestic first-class matches.

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South Africa have released pacers Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen from their T20I squad and the duo will not take part in the ODIs against India as well. Both pacers will play in the first-class competition to gear up for the Tests.

Nandre Burger, South Africa's other bowling option, is part of the white-ball squad and might make his debut in the third T20I at the Wanderers on Thursday. Wiaan Mulder, who is in the Test squad, is also in the ODI squad and will miss the current round of first-class matches.

Bavuma hasn't played since South Africa's ODI World Cup campaign ended in the semi-finals against Australia on November 16, when he suffered a hamstring injury. He last played a Test match in March, when South Africa defeated the West Indies by 172 runs at the Wanderers. He is anticipated to be available for the Test series against India, starting on December 26 in Centurion.