Marco Jansen made his Test debut in Centurion.
South Africa’s selection convener, Victor Mpitsang, on Monday (December 27), revealed why Duanne Olivier was overlooked for the ongoing Boxing Day Test against India in Centurion.
The 29-year-old's non-selection was one of the big talking points, given his recent form with the ball leading up to the ongoing three-match Test series against Team India, as he scalped 28 wickets at an average of 11.10 in four first-class matches.
After Anrich Nortje was ruled out of the home Test series with a hip injury, Olivier was expected to be picked for the ongoing Boxing Day Test but was excluded, as India piled up 272/3 on day 1 in Centurion.
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On Monday, Mpitsang revealed that Olivier was recovering from COVID-19 and had suffered a mild hamstring strain due to which he was not able to prepare fully, and eventually, was not picked for the ongoing first Test against India in Centurion.
Mpitsang told ESPNCricinfo: “Duanne Olivier is healthy and well but did return a positive Covid-19 test result a number of weeks ago, which forced him to quarantine and took time away from his training.”
He concluded, “His workloads were not where the selection panel would have wanted them to be by the time he entered the team bubble ahead of the first Test match. He picked up a hamstring niggle during the two-day, inter-squad match at the start of the camp and the selectors did not want to risk him unnecessarily when there are two more Test matches to think about.”
(With AFP Input)