Big blow to SA: Star batsman suspended from 3rd Test

South Africa won the second Test and also clinched the series against Pakistan. But the team has received a big blow ahead of the third Test. Skipper Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the third Test as he has been suspended by ICC for one match for maintaining slow-over rate.

South Afrcia bowl one over less in second Test

The home team went with four quick bowlers in the second Test against Pakistan. du Plessis backed this strategy as all four bowlers were in prime form and the conditions assisted them.

However, it also meant that South Africa had to work hard to get their overs bowled in stipulated time as they had all pacers in the team. South Africa bowled 122 overs in two innings in the Test and the umpires Bruce Oxenford and Joel Wilson, and third umpire S Ravi stated that the home was one over short after calculating the time allowances.

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has been suspended for one Test for a second minor over-rate offence within 12 months.

READ ?https://t.co/4zfyF2onJT pic.twitter.com/KbTUjgUWg0

— ICC (@ICC) January 6, 2019

Due to this, Match referee David Boon suspended South Africa Faf du Plessis for one Test as this is the second time he has maintained slow over-rate in the span of 12 months. His previous instance came against India at Centurian earlier this year.

The skipper is also fined 20% of his match-fees while the rest of the South African players have been fined 10% of their match fees.

Amla, Markram or Elgar?

With du Plessis missing out the last Test, South Africa have to find a captain for the third Test. Hashim Amla has done this job in the past while the team management is looking at Aiden Markram as a future leader and might look at this situation as a chance to groom him.

Faf Du Plessis “I dont think we will be resting our bowlers for the third test because we changed it up against India last year and lost out on an opportunity for a whitewash” #savpak

— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) January 6, 2019

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Last time when South Africa needed a substitute for Faf, it was Dean Elgar who led the team against England. So probably the team will go ahead with Elgar as the captain.

South Africa’s squad for third Test 

Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn.