Dale Steyn suffers injury in groin muscle; may pull out of upcoming fixtures

What's the story

South African pace legend Dale Steyn was at the pinnacle of bowling across all formats in cricket for a really long time. But nowadays, it seems like he is slowly approaching the end of his fortunes, picking up injuries after injuries which are keeping him on the sidelines.

After just coming back into the recently concluded Sri Lankan series after a long spate of injury, it looks like Steyn will have to return to the bench as a new groin injury has inflicted itself upon the bowler.

In case you didn't know...

Dale Steyn has been having a horrible run of injuries over the past couple of years, which has also hampered his path to becoming South Africa’s record Test wicket-taker. In late 2015, he had overtaken the 400-wicket mark in Tests, but it took him nearly three years to take 21 more wickets and equal Shaun Pollock's record - which he finally made in the recent Sri Lanka series.

At first, it was a series shoulder injury that kept him at home for most parts of 2016 and 2017 after which he finally made a comeback against India at home, only for his heel to give way in a short while. Steyn did not feature in the remainder of the series and nursed his heel issue until July when Sri Lanka came calling.

The details

The pacer picked up his latest groin injury in a county cricket match on Monday, August 20th, as his side Hampshire competed against Nottinghamshire. He was unable to complete his 11th bowling over and was forced to leave the field immediately for a check-up. The 35-year-old will be made to undergo an examination of the problem today (Tuesday, August 21) after which the extent of the injury and the time for which he may be unavailable will be known.

What's next

South Africa's upcoming tour is against Zimbabwe, which is a three-match ODI series followed by three T20Is. In November, the Proteas will feature in a short series against Australia.