Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma scared the daylights out of millions Tuesday after he sustained a forearm injury at a practice session before the semifinal against England in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Rohit was taking customary throw-downs from S. Raghu when a short ball hit his right forearm and he left the nets immediately.
He looked in considerable pain as he watched the practice session from the benches, with a big ice pack tied to his right arm.
He later came back to hit a few but was seen doing it tentatively.
On Wednesday, however, the India captain said his arm was fine. “I was hit yesterday but it seems to be fine now. There was a little bruise, but it is absolutely fine now,” Rohit said ahead of the semifinal in Adelaide on Thursday.
Rohit also commented on bastsman Suryakumar Yadav’s killer form in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Yadav has a strike rate of 194, and is among the only two batsmen to have scored 150-plus runs with a strike rate over 150. The other is New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips.
Rohit said: “Yadav has it in him to take responsibility. He has shown a lot of maturity and it rubs off on other players batting with him. He likes playing on the big ground and not shorter grounds because he can’t see the gaps. The sky’s the limit for him.”
India take on England in the second semifinal Thursday, with the first being played between New Zealand and Pakistan in Sydney today.
The Indian team looked relaxed Tuesday evening as they had dinner at a restaurant called – ironically – the “British Raj” in Adelaide.
The restaurant is famous for its chicken tikka, Kashmiri pilau and lamb rogan josh, according to a report by news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, the English team seemed to be in a spot of bother with fast bowler Mark Wood and batsman Dawid Malan having injuries.
Wood withdrew from training on Tuesday with the team saying he had “body stiffness”, while Malan had a groin strain in the Super 12 win over Sri Lanka.
Captain Jos Butler said the decision to include the duo lay with medical staff ahead of the match at Adelaide Oval.
Butler added: “We certainly don’t want to see an India-Pakistan final and we’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Also read: Rohit gets hit on arm during training but no serious injury caused