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South Africa's T20 World Cup plans have suffered another injury scare after a key batter sustained an apparent groin injury while playing for the Paarl Royals against the Joburg Super Kings. The player sustained the injury during an SA20 match on Monday, forced to walk off the ground in the 16th over with visible discomfort. He did not return to bat as the Royals completed their chase, raising concern among the fans and the national team staff about the seriousness of the issue.

The injury remains classified at this stage. The Paarl Royals did not issue a full medical report, and even the player could not provide much clarification post-game: "I don’t know, we’ll see tomorrow when I pick up. Obviously not ideal," indicating skepticism about how long the recovery would take.

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The Royals meeting the Joburg Super Kings again on Thursday, January 22, in the Eliminator brings uncertain chances to the batter's potential fitness for the game. Their greater concern remains the first T20 World Cup game South Africa will play on February 9 against Canada in Ahmedabad. With just a handful of weeks till then, every day counts for recovery.

This latest injury really makes him the third player from the World Cup squad of South Africa to get into problems over the last couple of months. Earlier, Donovan Ferreira had a fractured shoulder and was ruled out of the SA20 season. Tony de Zorzi is recovering from a hamstring injury sustained on December 20. These repeat injuries have put South Africa's preparations for the world event under pressure.

The selectors and the team management shall be hoping this fresh injury turns out to be of minor nature and does not keep the player out of any more cricket. His experience and ability to finish games have made him a key component of South Africa's T20 plans. The loss of big-match experience with a long injury lay-off ahead of the World Cup would be a serious blow.

For now, the emphasis is on recovery and fitness evaluation in the following days. South Africa will carefully monitor how quickly he responds to treatment and whether he can play during the SA20 Eliminator, or the World Cup opener.