South Africa's Test and ODI captain Graeme Smith has acquired a fracture to his left hand's fourth finger. This could rule him out of the clash at summit; forthcoming home Tests series against India. Smith got struck on the hand by a fierce bouncer from Shoaib Akhtar in first game of the one day international series at Abu Dhabi that is how he got the injury. Smith did rest for two games and Johan Botha took over but he came back to take the field for the last two ODIs which made the injury worse.
South Africa's team manager Mohammad Moosajee confirmed the injury and said that it is the very same injury that was picked by Smith against Pakistan in an ODI three weeks ago. He identified that the injury was forced to grow by Smith playing the two ODIs and two Test matches, and it finally erupted when Smith was fielding against Pakistan in a Test match at Dubai. Smith did not come out to bat in the second innings of the Test match. He looked lethargic in the field during Pakistan first innings, when standing on mid on; he gave up chases very soon and didn't run a lot. Clearly some unease was on his mind.
This is not the first time Smith has suffered an injury to his hand, Smith has sustained four different injuries to his hands in the last two and a half years or so. The injury itself is not that serious, the fracture is non-displaced. However this could result in Smith being sidelined for the Centurion Test against India which starts from 16th December. This could be a serious blow for his team as none of the probable deputees have a lot of experience in the Test captaincy.
Mohammad Moosajee admitted that Graeme Smith's fitness for first Test is a race against time; he also added that a speedy recovery cannot be ruled out because Smith has a history of getting fit in four weeks when he advised six weeks rest. Team doctor has advised Smith to rest up to three weeks and the team management is in dilemma over Smith's fitness.
Talking about Smith's history of hand injuries, Smith broke the middle finger of his right hand during this year's IPL. He sustained a fracture to the little finger of his left hand which kept him out against India series in February. To add to this Mitchell Johnson twice broke Smith's right hand successively during South Africa's victorious home and away series against Australia in 2008-09.

Tags:- Graeme Smith   India   Johan Botha   Mohammad Moosajee