South African premier pacer Dale Steyn, who made an international return with Cape Town Test after a gap of 14th months, has once again stuck with an injury and ruled out of the action for at least four weeks. But the pacer is confident that he will be match ready in the next six weeks after recovering from the muscle tear in his left heel that he sustained during Day 2 of the Cape Town Test.
Speaking to Sony ESPN –the official broadcaster of the Freedom Series, Steyn said, “I’m on the crutches because I’ve got a no bearing weight on the leg for a while, at least two weeks, which makes it seem worse than it actually is.”
He further added, “But it’s right underneath the heel, so it’s extremely sore to stand on or step on. And as you know, as fast bowlers we land on that front foot pretty often. So I’m going to have to give it time to recover - six weeks, and I’ll be up and running again.”
On being asked about the injury, Steyn is hoping to be fit for the home Test series against Australia in March-April.
The 34-year-old further said, “Yeah, that (getting ready for the Australia series) is the plan. Next two weeks, nothing on my feet. Stay off my feet. After that, I’ll start walking around, and in about four weeks, I’ll start running and then look to start practicing again in six weeks. That’s a long time. I spent a whole year out, so when someone says to me six weeks, it doesn’t sound too bad.”
Steyn concluded by saying, “But this is a cricket injury, it’s like a batter getting hit on the hand and breaking a finger. So I’m okay with that, just got to put it away and get on with the job.”
