NAGPUR: South Africa will play Friday’s vital World Twenty20 Group 1 match against West Indies without all-rounder JP Duminy who has been ruled out with a hamstring strain.

Duminy picked up the injury while fielding in Sunday’s 37-run victory over Afghanistan and will be a loss for the side with bat and ball.

“The scans which were done yesterday (Monday) confirmed our clinical suspicion of a hamstring strain which means that he will be ruled out of Friday’s game against the West Indies in Nagpur,” team manager Mohammed Moosajee said in a Cricket South Africa statement on Tuesday.

“The plan is to try and get him ready for our last round-robin match against Sri Lanka in Delhi on Sunday.”

Duminy has scored 83 runs from 48 balls in the competition without being dismissed and took 1-31 in three overs in the two-wicket defeat by England in South Africa’s opening game.

The 31-year-old is his country’s leading scorer in Twenty20 Internationals with 1,654 runs in 70 matches, fourth on the all-time list headed by New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2016