The injury to Rassie van der Dussen could not have come at a worse time for South Africa as the middle order stalwart is set to miss both the decisive Test in England and the T20 World Cup.
Van Der Dussen might not be the first player you think of when it comes to winning T20 matches but he has become the rock of the batting unit in all three formats.’
He brings reliability and stability to an exciting batting lineup and is often the man who pulls the team out of trouble.
The injury doesn’t really throw up any sort of selection poser when it comes to who will replace Van der Dussen as there was already a debate surrounding who would have to make way for the returning skipper Temba Bavuma.
In that way the finger injury might have spared the selectors an incredibly difficult choice.
If the Proteas are to end their long wait for an ICC title then Bavuma will need to step into the role Van der Dussen has performed so well.
PROTEAS WORLD CUP SQUAD 🇿🇦
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) September 6, 2022
1⃣5⃣ players
🧢 World Cup debut for Tristan Stubbs
🤕 Rassie van der Dussen misses out due to injury#BePartOfIt #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/0Pzxm4uDQJ
The problem for Bavuma might be that he simply doesn’t have the ability Van der Dussen does when it comes to accelerating in the second half of the innings.
Bavuma is an accumulator-style batter whose strike rate in T20 cricket remains the biggest question mark having over his status as captain.
Bavuma shouldn’t be asked to open the batting with Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks and Rilee Rossouw all available to do those jobs and all three likely to feature in the Proteas best XI.
That means Bavuma would slot in at number four but could also be used in a floating role if South Africa want to ensure they maintain a left-right combination.
The form Van der Dussen carried before his injury will leave Bavuma with some work to do to make up for the absence of the star batter.
