Tanzid Hasan opened the batting for Bangladesh as Soumya Sarkar's concussion replacement in their chase against Sri Lanka in the third and deciding ODI in Chattogram. The like-for-like replacement was allowed after Soumya suffered a neck injury when he crashed into the boundary board in the 49th over of the Sri Lanka innings.
"Soumya fell hard while attempting to save a boundary and also hit the advertisement billboard," Bangladesh team physio Bayjedul Islam Khan said in a statement. "His head hit the ground in the process and he felt stiffness in the neck and also complained of a headache and vision difficulties. A SCAT5 assessment was done when he came off. He has also hurt his left knee."
When Tanzid walked out to bat with Anamul Haque, the Sri Lanka fielders were left surprised. They inquired with the on-field umpires, one of whom would have also surprised the players. It was Tanvir Ahmed, the fourth umpire, who had walked out with Sharfuddoula after Richard Kettleborough opted to stay away because of the extreme heat, having officiated in the first innings.
All of this was after a spell of poor luck for Bangladesh.
Minutes after Soumya was injured at the boundary, substitute fielder Jaker Ali crashed into Anamul Haque in the in-field as they both went after a skier off Pramod Madushan's slice. Anamul completed the catch but Jaker's head banged into Anamul's shoulder. Jaker lay on the ground for a while before being stretchered off the field. He was taken to hospital shortly afterwards.
Dr Abu Mohammad Sayem, orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital (Apollo-Imperial Hospital), said of Jaker's condition: "His injury is in the neck. There's no injury on the brain. We have mobilised his neck. Pain will go down in the next 24 to 48 hours. He is already saying pain has gone down. He is talking to us, he had his medicine. There's no reason to be afraid."
And Jaker wasn't even the only Bangladesh player who had to be helped off the field at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. A stretcher was required earlier when Mustafizur Rahman went down with cramps after bowling the first ball of the 48th over.
Earlier in the game, Mushfiqur Rahim also suffered a finger injury while Anamul too was off the field for a while clutching his leg around the midway mark in the Sri Lanka innings.
The article was updated following the release of the BCB statement