Either Tillakaratne Dilshan or Arun Karthik could keep wickets in the absence of AB de Villiers.
What could be also a big blow for South Africa, de Villiers' injury puts him in doubt for the early part of the series against Australia starting on October 13.
de Villiers was named South Africa's captain for T20Is and ODIs in June this year and was due to take over from Graeme Smith.
"AB's injury will be assessed by Cricket South Africa's team of hand specialists as soon as he returns home," said team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee.
"This will give us an exact indication of the treatment and rehabilitation required and the length of time that he will be out of action."
"At this stage we can only make a call about his availability for the series against Australia once the specialists have assessed his injury."
