Ajinkya Rahane Updates on Injury: Indian senior batter Ajinkya Rahane gave an update on his finger injury sustained during his 89-run knock in the first innings of the World Test Championship Final at the Oval, London.
Ajinkya Rahane Updates on Injury
Rahane, who returned to the Indian team after more than a year, scored a fighting 89 runs to help India avoid the follow-on. He shared a crucial 109-run stand for the seventh wicket with Shardul Thakur to revive India’s innings after they lost KS Bharat early on the second ball of the day.
During his heroic knock, Rahane suffered a lot of body blows from the Australian bowlers. He hurt his finger in the process but according to the cricketer, it won’t bother him while batting in the second innings.
“It was painful but quite manageable. I am really happy with that way I batted. We had a good day today, the partnership with (Ravindra) Jadeja and I and then with Shardul (Thakur) and myself was really crucial”, Rahane told the ICC at the end of a day that finished with Australia leading by 296 runs, despite Rahane’s counterattack 89.
“We were aiming to get 320 or 330 (runs), but I think overall we had a pretty good day. Bowling wise we bowled really well in the second innings. Everyone bowled really well. (We’ll take it) session by session. We don’t want to look too far ahead, but we’ve seen funny things happen in this game”, he added.
Overcast conditions and a hint of green on the wicket persuaded India to bowl first after winning the toss, and the strategy seemed sensible given the selection of a fourth fast bowler instead of the world’s top-ranked Test bowler – spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
With Australia 76/3 at one stage it looked as if India’s selection could be the right one. But an unbroken 251-run stand between Head and Smith helped Australia to 469 at the close, leaving India on the back foot in the game.
Earlier, Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey backs Indian bowlers after an unimpressive first day in WTC 2023 final and explains the reason for the exclusion of Ashwin from the playing 11.
While on the other hand, the Australian bowling attack came out strong, reducing India to 151-5 by stumps on day two. Pat Cummins drew first blood by removing Rohit Sharma, while Scott Boland and Cameron Green showcased their skills to dismiss Shubman Gill and Chiteshwar Pujara, respectively.
The left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc generated extra bounce to dismiss Virat Kohli for 14 runs while Lyon dismissed Jadeja for 48 runs. India ended up scoring 269 runs in their first innings.
At the end of day 3 Australia scored 123 runs for 4 wickets loss and made a lead of 296 runs.
