England suffer injury scare during third Test against India

LONDON: Home side England suffered a potential injury setback as their sole spinner Shoaib Bashir was forced to leave the field during the third day of their third Test against India here at The Lord’s on Saturday.

Bashir took a hit on his left little finger during the 78th over of India’s first innings when Ravindra Jadeja smashed the ball back towards the spinner.

The right-arm spinner appeared to be in extreme discomfort after sustaining the blow and thus immediately left the field.

As a result, experienced batter Joe Root had to step in to complete the over and also serve as their sole spinner, bowling 10.1 overs and conceding only 35 runs.

For the unversed, the ongoing Lord’s Test is evenly poised as India were bowled out for 387, equal to what the home side scored in their first innings.

Leading the way for the visitors was opening batter KL Rahul, who scored 100 off 177 deliveries, studded with 13 boundaries.

Besides him, in-form wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Jadeja made handy contributions to the total as both scored half-centuries.

Pant scored 74 off 112 deliveries with the help of eight fours and two sixes, while Jadeja took 131 balls to accumulate 72, featuring eight fours and a six.

Batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (30) and Washington Sundar (23) also made valuable contributions to the total.

Chris Woakes was the standout bowler for England in the first innings, taking three wickets for 84 runs in his 27 overs, followed by returning Jofra Archer and skipper Ben Stokes, who bagged two each.

Injured Shoaib Bashir and Brydon Carse, on the other hand, made one scalp apiece.