Graeme Smith has been ruled out of the upcoming ODI series against India due to his finger injury before the start of the second Test match at Kolkata. His place will be taken by Hashim Amla, who was earlier not a part of the side for the ODIs. >
However, with the kind of form that Amla has exhibited by coring almost 500 runs in the three inning and getting out only once, there wasn’t any doubt that his stay would be extended. Jacques Kallis will lead the side.
The other issue that the South Africans could face would be due to the issues with Mark Boucher’s back spasms. He had missed out on the previous Test and his replacement, stand-in keeper, AB de Villiers missed out on an easy stumping of Sehwag. It remains to be seen how the Proteas go about their business with the keeping conundrum if Boucher does not recover too well.
India have issues of their own. Harbhajan had ruled himself out of the ODIs to begin with, and now there are two others who will not play thanks to injuries. Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan, both of whom did not take field on the last day of the Test match against South Africa have also been ruled out of the ODI series. Zaheer will be replaced by S. Sreesanth.