|
On the eve of their first warm-up match of the World Cup, India suffered an injury scare with allrounder Vijay Shankar leaving the training session midway after being hit on his right hand. Vijay was hit on the forearm while attempting a pull against left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed, who is among the four quicks travelling with the Indian squad as net bowlers. Vijay, who was part of the second group of batsmen alongside MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, immediately walked back to the dressing room carrying two bats in his left hand. He went for scans in the evening and no fracture was detected, but he sat out of India's first warm-up match, against New Zealand, as a precautionary measure. Vijay will continue to be part of the squad, and the medical team will continue to assess him in the coming days to figure his fitness for India's second warm-up match. ALSO WATCH: 'Vijay Shankar has changed the dynamics' - chief selector MSK Prasad India would hope Vijay's injury is not serious considering Kedar Jadhav is yet to hit full tilt in the training. Jadhav, who picked up a left shoulder injury during the IPL on May 5, was retained in the 15-man squad by the selectors based on a positive assessment by team physiotherapist Patrick Farhart. India trained at the Oval on Thursday and Friday, and on both days Jadhav started with light drills with Farhart following him like a shadow. On Thursday, Jadhav took some throwdowns without batting in the main nets. However, on Friday, he did the complete drill, including some fielding practice, before wrapping it by batting in the nets. Jadhav, though, is likely to sit out of the warm-up game against New Zealand. If Vijay recovers, he is set to bat at No.4, the position MSK Prasad, Indian chairman of selectors, had said the allrounder was ideal for while announcing the World Cup squad. In case Vijay does not play, then it is likely that KL Rahul would replace him. Rahul, who was part of the last batch of batsmen in India's second training session, was included in the squad mainly as the cover for the openers, but Prasad said he was equally capable of batting in the middle order. 10.00am GMT, May 25: This article was updated with information about Vijay Shankar's scan results.
|
