Indian physio Nitin Patel with Bangladesh's Nayeem Hasan
The historic Test between India and Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday witnessed a "spirit of cricket" moment in the second session of the opening day when India's physiotherapist Nitin Patel ran to the field in aid of Bangladesh's Nayeem Hasan after the batsman was struck on the helmet by Mohammed Shami.
It was during the 23rd over of the match when the ball came tailing in sharply after being pitched. Nayeem was late to react and the fizzing ball struck around the side of the helmet and lobbed backwards towards second slip. Indian skipper Virat Kohli ran in quickly to check on Nayeem and then immediately signalled to Nitin for help. Bangladesh physio ran in later.
"In the end, it's all about the #SpiritOfCricket. #TeamIndia physio, Mr. Nitin Patel attends to Nayeem after he gets hit on the helmet. #PinkBallTest," tweeted BCCI while also sharing a video of the same.
Nayeem continued with his batting, scoring 19 runs off 28 deliveries before becoming Ishant Sharma's fifth victim for the day. Taijul Islam was announced as his concussion substitute. It was Bangladesh's second concussion substitute in the same match after Shami had struck on Liton Das' helmet in the first session. Mehidy Hasan was announced Liton's substitute. However, as per ICC's rule, Mehidy, who is more of a spinner, will have to play the role of a batsman.
