South Africa has suffered a massive blow ahead of their home series against Pakistan, as their premier bowler, Lungi Ngidi, has been ruled out of the action for the next 12 weeks with a knee injury.

The speedster injured his knee while fielding during the one-off T20I against Australia and later scans have revealed ligament damage, which will require a minimum 12 weeks to completely recover.

He had to immediately leave the field out after falling awkwardly on the ground, though, the pacer returned to the field to bowl the final over in the 10-overs-a-side affair at the Carrara Oval, but the injury has turned out to be serious, which forced him for a lengthy layoff.

On Friday (November 23), South Africa team manager Dr. Mohammad Moosajee said in a statement, “Lungi fell awkwardly while fielding during the T20I against Australia last Sunday. He underwent investigations and further assessments with knee specialists upon his return to South Africa, which revealed a significant ligament injury to the right knee. Due to the significant nature of the injury, he will require a minimum of 12 weeks of rest and rehabilitation to make a successful return to play.”

Meanwhile, Ngidi is a key member of the South African squad across all formats of the game, as well as, a key figure of their World Cup 2019 scheme. The 22-year-old might return to Proteas squad for their Sri Lanka tour, which will be their last series before World Cup in England in May 2019.

Noteworthy, South Africa and Pakistan are slated to compete in the three Tests, five One Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals to be played in December 2018 - January 2019.

(With Reuters Inputs)