South Africa vs India: Dale Steyn injures heel, could miss rest of Freedom Series

Cricket South Africa doctor Dr Md Moosajee has said that Dale Steyn will need two to three weeks to recover, potentially ruling him out of the Freedom Series Test matches against Indian cricket team.

South Africa team doctor Dr Md Moosajee has confirmed that pacer Dale Steyn will be out of this Test and possibly the series after injuring his left heel during the second days’ play at Newlands on Saturday. Steyn hobbled out in the 61st over, apparently due to a boot problem but it was later confirmed that he had suffered a heel strain and had been sent to a hospital for scan. (SA vs IND, 1st Test, Day 2 live updates)

South Africa cricket team bowler Dale Steyn (C) pulled up three balls into his 18th over after taking two for 51 in the first Test against the Indian cricket team at Newlands. (AFP)

“As we all know that during Dale’s 18th over, during his delivery stride, he unfortunately landed awkwardly in the footholes. This caused a significant strain to the foot, leading to tissue damage on the underside of the foot in the heel area. He is unlikely to bowl in this Test match, because the recovery period for this could be anything from four to six weeks – which means he could be out for the series. But what we will do is get one of the leading ankle surgeons to have a look at him tomorrow to give us an opinion,” said Moosajee. (SA vs IND, 1st Test, Day 2 live scorecard)

“I think it’s important to note though that this unfortunate injury was freakish because of the way his foot landed in the footholes. It’s in no way related to his bowling loads or not being match ready,” he added.

Asked what can be done to speed recovery, he said, “Generally you need rest. Rest allows tissue damage to recover, but once we get the opinion of the expert specialist, we’ll probably see if anything different can be done.”

“Understandably he (Steyn) was disappointed. But knowing Dale, he understands that he is going to try his best to recover as quickly as he can, because he wants to be out there. You could see how much he was enjoying himself in this Test match.”

Moosajee however didn’t rule out the possibility that Steyn might bat if needed. “If needs be, and he needs to hold up one end…who knows? I can’t make a call on that as yet. Once we see the specialist we might get an opinion on that. At the moment it’s quite tender and it’s extremely uncomfortable to run. Obviously with some anti inflammatories and rest overnight, who knows how he might turn up tomorrow. But at this stage it’s unlikely that he will be able to run. In fact, we’d probably like him to be non-weight bearing.”