Visiting Proteas fall sick, Indian steps in
The situation turned so bad that South Africa had to borrow a member of the Indian team
By : s. bagawati prasad
Update: 2015-08-10 04:43 GMT
Chennai: India ‘A’s match against South Africa ‘A’ in the tri-series one-dayers at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday witnessed a bizarre sequence of events with half of the visiting Proteas squad hospitalised owing to food poisoning. The situation turned so bad that South Africa had to borrow a member of the Indian team, Mandeep Singh, to ensure that they had 11 fielders on the field while defending 244. Even the visiting team’s video analyst, Hendrikus Coertzen, was on fielding duty.
India’s comprehensive eight-wicket win became incidental in the wake of South Africa’s suffering a bout of Chennai Belly. Even on a forgettable day Quinton de Kock epitomised the fighting spirit of the visitors. The 22-year-old southpaw scored a fine hundred to help his team put up a decent score but he had to come off the field with cramps in the 32nd over of the Indian innings. de Kock went straight to hospital.
Cricket South Africa said in a statement: “Reeza Hendricks, Zondo and Mthokozisi Shezi were all on the sick list but they had to play because there was nobody else available. In the end, all three had to be hospitalised during the course of the match.”