Dale Steyn Misses Comeback Game Due To Viral Fever; South Africa Bat In Historic Test

South African fast bowler, Dale Steyn, missed his comeback game to international cricket as the pacer was down with viral infection before the game. He had a tough competition to make it to the playing XI with likes of Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Andile Phehlukwayo in the side but viral infection automatically ruled him out of his comeback game.

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Steyn was making a comeback in international cricket after a period one year. He suffered a broken shoulder in November last year while bowling in the first Test against Australia in Perth. Steyn made a comeback to domestic cricket recently and was selected in the team. Though he remained wicketless in the practice game while playing for South Africa Invitation XI against Zimbabwe.

He was not the sole player to be down with a fever as skipper Faf du Plessis was also ruled out of the game due to the same reason. Surprisingly, AB de Villiers, who relinquished the post last year, was announced as the stand-in captain despite the presence of Dean Elgar in the side. He led the team in England this year when Faf du Plessis missed the Lord’s Test.

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De Villiers is also making his comeback to Test cricket after 23 months and is coming back as the captain of the side.

The historic Test match between Zimbabwe and South Africa is underway at St. George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. It is a four day Test match which will be a day/night contest and will be played with a pink ball.

South Africa won the toss and decided to bat first. Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander made a comeback to international cricket after missing out of action in past few months due to respective injuries. Plessis’ absence meant that Temba Bavuma also retained his place as the comeback of De Villiers could have ruled out Bavuma of playing XI, which was not the case with Plessis out of the contest.

Here is the playing XI of both the teams –

South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers(c), Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock(w), Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel

Zimbabwe: Chamu Chibhabha, Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Brendan Taylor(w), Peter Moor, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer(c), Kyle Jarvis, Chris Mpofu, Blessing Muzarabani

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Video of the day –