The Proteas suffered an ODI series defeat against India by 5-1. Some of the regular faces of the team were sidelined due to an injury throughout the whole series. South African star batsman AB de Villiers also missed the first three ODIs of the 6-match series alongside Francois du Plessis, and Quinton de Kock who missed the whole series.

De Villiers has now been ruled out of the T20I series as well. The right-handed batsman will miss the 3-match series owing to a knee injury.

The talismanic cricketer amassed over 1600 runs while represnting the rainbow nation in 78 matches in the shortest format of the game. Having lost a reliable player, South Africa's work will become a lot tougher in their ongoing series against the confident visitors.

South Africa's team manager, Mohammed Moosajee, said, "He suffered a blow to the knee while batting ahead of the fifth ODI, and although he passed a fitness test on Friday, the injury worsened significantly throughout the match.

"The Cricket South Africa medical team has advised he is given a period of rest and rehabilitation to make a full recovery ahead of the four-match series against Australia starting next month."