South Africa vs India 2018: AB de Villiers ruled out of first three ODIs against India

AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the first three ODIs against India. The 33-year-old sustained a finger injury, and won't be featuring in the first half of the six-match series.

De Villiers made a return to Tests after a hiatus of one year and played the four-match Pink Ball Test against Zimbabwe towards the end of last year. He made a full-fledged comeback to the Test side in the three-match series against India.

The former South Africa captain had suffered a blow to his finger while going for a catch off Virat Kohli in the third Test at Johannesburg. He injured his right index finger and will require up to two weeks to make a full recovery. No replacement has been named by the selectors.

According to the Cricket South Africa medical staff, he is expected to be fit and available for the fourth game of the six-match series, beginning with the first ODI at Durban on February 1.

#BreakingNews #CSAnews @ABdeVilliers17 ruled out of first three @Momentum_za ODI’s with finger injury #SAvIND ... https://t.co/PzSJ1INdNd pic.twitter.com/jmnISYmwBJ

— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) January 30, 2018

Against India, De Villiers has scored 1295 runs in 29 ODIs at an average of 51.80, with six hundreds and five fifties.

South Africa had last week named the 15-man squad to face India, with Faf du Plessis captaining the side. All-rounder Chris Morris made a return to the side. Lungi Ngidi and Khayelihle Zondo are the two uncapped players in the team.

Zondo is likely to make his debut in the absence of De Villiers. The 27-year-old became the captain of the Dolphins team last year, replacing Morne van Wyk, and is currently the captain of the South Africa A team.

The middle-order batsman, known for his aggressive strokeplay, earned his maiden international call-up for South Africa's tour to India in 2015, replacing the injured Rilee Rossouw in the T20 squad, but did not get to play a game.