South Africa's injury woes continued with their star batsman AB de Villiers being ruled out of the three-match T20I series due to a knee injury in Johannesburg on Sunday.

De Villiers had suffered a blow to his left knee a day before the fifth ODI. Though the former skipper featured in the last two games but he was absent when the Proteas trained on Saturday.

"He suffered a blow to the knee while batting ahead of the fifth ODI, and although he passed a fitness test on Friday, the injury worsened significantly throughout the match," Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa's team manager, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

In a release, Cricket South Africa further said that de Villiers has been advised rest to allow him a full recovery ahead of the four-Test series against Australia starting in Durban on March 1 .

De Villiers had suffered an injury to his right index finger during the third Test against India and had missed the first three one-dayer.

South Africa fielded a depleted side for the T20Is after Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock were ruled out with a fractured finger and a left wrist injury respectively.

Image: AB de Villiers

Photograph: Reuters