A Cricket South Africa media release stated today that while Steyn continued to make progress from a groin injury, sustained during the first Test at Mohali that the visitors lost, he remained a doubtful starter to play in the third match of the series commencing at Nagpur on November 25.
Philander suffered a freak ankle injury during a warm-up football session at Bengaluru in the run-up to the second Test and has returned home for treatment.
The visitors are trailing India 0-1 after losing the series opener at Mohali, while the second game at Bengaluru was washed out by rain with no play possible after the first day.
Explaining the decision to call up De Lange, South Africa coach Russell Domingo, said, "At the moment we only have three fit seamers in Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott, so with Dale still struggling with a groin injury we decided to bring Marchant in as cover so we are prepared in case one of the three breaks down.
More From This Section
The Proteas have had a few days to assess and dissect their short-comings and travel to Nagpur tomorrow.
"We've done it before," Domingo said of winning from
behind.
"We know that we are still in the contest with two matches to play, the wickets are definitely going to produce results. We are 1-0 down so we have every chance of turning it around in Nagpur. We are aware that we have to play better cricket with bat and with ball, but we are hopeful that we can rectify that.
He recalled South Africa's earlier stint at Nagpur in 2010 that ended with them winning the Test match by an innings after a poor start.
"I wasn't there on that tour but I remember South Africa being 6/2 and (Jaques) Kallis getting 160 and (Hashim) Amla getting 250 to give the team a comfortable win in the backend," he said.
The Proteas, led by Graeme Smith recovered from the poor start to score a mammoth 558 for 6 declared with Amla, who is leading the side now, making 253 and the now-retired Kallis making 173.
Following on, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side were shot out for 319 with Steyn (3 for 57) again finishing as the leading wicket taker.
"The side in general has good memories from the particular venue. We are going to have to play well, India are playing good cricket at the moment," the South Africa coach added.