Opener Rohit Sharma has given India another injury scare ahead of Sunday’s deciding ODI clash against Australia.
The batsman had to leave the field after injuring his shoulder when fielding in the second game in Rajkot on Friday. He will have to be assessed before the decider in Bangalore on Sunday.
India levelled the three-game series with a 36-run success on Friday to make it 1-1 with one game to play.
However, despite the victory, their injury issues worsened when Sharma hurt his shoulder. He tumbled in the deep as he tried to cover Ashton Agar’s cut shot from the bowling of Navdeep Saini.
Sharma was attended to by the India medical team but had to be replaced by Jedar Jadhav.
India are now considered the favourites to win the third and final ODI. They can be backed at 1.73 (8/11) with bet365. Australia are priced at 2.10 (11/10) for victory.
They will be sweating on the fitness of Sharma with just two days until the deciding fixture.
The early signs are encouraging with captain Virat Kohli saying he's hopeful Sharma will make it in time.
.@imVkohli: I asked Rohit briefly just now. It's that left shoulder that has popped out a few times. There's no tear so hopefully, he should be back for the next game.#OneFamily #CricketMeriJaan #INDvAUS
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) January 17, 2020
It is yet another injury that India have suffered this series.
Earlier in the game, Shikhar Dhawan injured his ribs after being hit by a short-pitched delivery from Pat Cummins. He continued as he top-scored with 96 runs but wasn’t able to field.
Rishabh Pant already had to miss the second ODI with concussion after being struck on the head in the first ODI.
Sharma to lead Mumbai in IPL
Rohit Sharma will again lead the Mumbai Indians as they look for another IPL title this campaign.
They have won the IPL four times in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 and are considered the favourites to bag a fifth success this season.
This season they have managed to retain their key players while adding sensibly at the IPL 2020 Auction, which is a strategy that has served them well in the past.
The four-time champions concentrated their auction spend on two Australians in Nathan Coulter-Nile and Chris Lynn. They bought Coulter-Nile for Rs 8,00,00,000 and Lynn for Rs 2,00,00,000.
Besides those purchases, they stuck to Indian talent for the rest of their squad improvements. They bought quartet Saurabh Tiwary, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh and Mohsin Khan.
