Team India have been dealt huge blow ahead of their T20 World Cup semifinal clash against England on Thursday (November 10) as skipper Rohit Sharma was hit on his right hand and sat out of warm-up session. While the extent of the injury is unknown, Team India will be optimistic on Rohit’s selection as the Men in Blue prepare for their fourth T20 World Cup semifinal.
What happened in the nets?
Ahead of India’s crunch tie against England on Thursday (November 10), Rohit was hit on his forearm and was seen taking a short break. The footage from India’s warm-up session in Adelaide showed signs of worries while Rohit took a short break in the warm-up. The extent of the injury is still unknown while there was also no official word form the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Rohit was taking customary throwdowns from S Raghu at the Indian net session when a short ball hit his right forearm and he was instantly in deep pain, leaving the nets immediately. Rohit tried a short arm pull and throwdowns being hurled at 150 plus speed from 18 yards climbed on him and he missed the shot by a split second.
He left the session and after that a big ice pack was tied to his right arm but he looked desolate and in considerable pain even while watching the training from a distance sitting on the ice box. Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton was seen talking to him for a considerable amount of time.
Who could replace Rohit?
In case the BCCI confirms the news of Rohit’s injury, team India will have to bring in either Deepak Hooda or Dinesh Karthik in the Playing XI. Deepak Hooda and Rishabh Pant (already in the team for Zimbabwe clash) could be drafted in as openers as they both have previously been used in that slot. Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav are other alternative options, but the management wont risk changing the winning formula.
This is not the first time Rohit will miss a huge clash, if he is injured having previously missed the South Africa tour at the start of the year and was out of the only Test against England in July due to Covid-19. So it remains to be seen who will take Rohit’s place in the starting XI, while there are ifs and buts.
Indian T20 World Cup squad:
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik
