Ishant suffers ankle injury before Test squad announcement for NZ
NEWDELHI: Almost the entire Delhi team went up appealing, but their strike bowler Ishant Sharma went down on the turf.
Sharma had just trapped Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal and was turning around to appeal when he twisted his ankle, fell on the pitch and lay there on his back writhing in pain.
Delhi needed a breakthrough after conceding a slender 16-run lead in the first innings on the second day at the Kotla and Sharma was going all out, before he injured himself. The lanky pacer hobbled off the ground leaning on the shoulders of two members of the support staff.
Vidarbha finished their second innings at 35/0, an overall lead of 51 after pacer Aditya Thakare took 7/55 to dismiss Delhi for 163. Umesh Yadav took two. “He (Ishant) has got a swelling on the ankle he twisted,” said Delhi coach KP Bhaskar. Sharma was taken for an MRI scan right after the game. “The report will be available on Tuesday. But it doesn’t look too serious,” said Manoj Kapoor, the team manager. Sharma will not bowl in the remainder of the match and he will now have to consult the National Cricket Academy for treatment and rehabilitation after the report comes.
The pacer, who has played 96 Tests, was the Man-of-the-series against Bangladesh, the last Test series India played.
Sharma had a niggle after that series and had to go to the NCA. He returned to play a Ranji game against Hyderabad last month, helping Delhi win. He is expected to be a frontline bowler for India in the Tests in New Zealand next month.
The Test series begins on February 21 and if it is just a twisted ankle, he should recover in three weeks. Sharma’s absence will mean Vidarbha can now go for full points with two days’ play remaining. Earlier, Anuj Rawat’s 3 7 a nd Si marjeet Si ngh’s unbeaten 23 lower down helped Delhi reach close to Vidarbha’s total. Rawat, who seemed all set to give Delhi a first-innings lead with a 36-run ninth wicket stand, holed out to deep long on with his team 25 short of opposition total.
TIWARY CRACKS
MAIDEN TRIPLE TON KALYANI: Manoj Tiwary cracked his maiden first class triple century to put Bengal in the driver’s seat against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Group A clash here on Monday.
The 34-year-old, who has played 12 ODIS and 3 T20 Internationals, was at his sublime best, smashing 30 fours and five sixes, en route to his unbeaten 303 from 414 balls at a strike rate of 73.19. His marathon knock lasted 10 hours and 30 minutes.
His final 50 came off just 37 balls as he got to the landmark in the fourth ball of the final session of the second day, gliding parttimer Buddhi Rahul through covers boundary. Bengal immediately declared their first innings at 635 for seven. After Tiwary’s sensational innings, it was time for Bengal pace duo of Akash Deep (3/46) and Mukesh Kumar (2/29) to wreak havoc as they reduced Hyderabad to 83 for five in the final session.