Cape Town - The Titans’ T20 Challenge campaign has been dealt an unfortunate blow after star batsman AB de Villiers has ruled himself out for the remainder of the competition, as reported by SACricketmag.
De Villiers was scheduled to play in the remainder of the Titans' group stage matches in order to get much-needed practice ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
He has been absent since the New Zealand Test series in August, where he required surgery on his elbow after the injury flared up during his stint for the Barbados Tridents at the Caribbean Premier League in July.
READ: AB faces first net session in 5 months!
After facing his first net practice on Tuesday, De Villiers was set to play on Wednesday for the Titans, however he was not featured in Mark Boucher's charges bonus point win over the Highveld Lions in Centurion.
De Villiers spoke to SACricketmag on Friday and revealed that he wasn't 100 percent ready to go out into the middle.
"I wanted to play on Wednesday night to get a bit of game time... But the surgeon said three months, not two months, so I’ve been a bit naughty," said De Villiers.
"I’ve tried to push it hard to get back on the park. Hopefully I’ll make the Test matches but we’ll see what happens in a week’s time. We’ll assess it as we go on but things change all the time."
Whether the Protea skipper will be fit enough to play Sri Lanka remains to be seen, as the first Test against South Africa gets underway in Port Elizabeth on Boxing Day.