Ashwin injures forearm during practice session in Bengaluru
Jul 4, 2016 at 3:10 PM
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up an injury on his forearm during the training session ahead of the West Indies tour in Bengaluru on Monday.
The team was enjoying the training session at the NCA ground following a practice match at Alur.
Latest reports claim the injury sustained on the last day of the warm-up, before departure. A ball hit Ashwin’s right arm after which the off-spinner left the morning training session.
The veteran spinner, who claimed 176 wickets in 32 Tests, happens to be captain Virat Kohli’s go-to man in Test cricket.
Ashwin didn’t enjoy that much success in limited overs in recent past; even MS Dhoni didn’t give him the bowl him as he used to do, both in ICC World Twenty20 and IPL.
The West Indies tour looks to be the perfect platform for the spinner to bounce back to silence his critics.
In his last Test, against South Africa last year, Ashwin scalped seven wickets which included a five-for in the second innings. India won the match by 337 runs.
The presence of former leg-spinner Anil Kumble as head coach will be a huge boost for Ashwin. The seriousness of his injury is yet to be known.
Coach Kumble, when addressing the pre-departure press conference earlier today, ruled out a bigger scare and said Ashwin just had a bruise.
“Ashwin’s injury should not be serious, it’s just a bruise. We will get to know more about the injury in the next hour,” he said.
With the West Indies tracks providing a bite for spinners in the recently concluded tri-series involving the hosts, Australia, and South Africa, Ashwin would be key to India’s chances during the Test series.
On the penultimate day of the camp, the squad was put to test in a Test cricket simulation exercise by Kumble, in which Ashwin dismissed opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan when the Delhi batsman tried to take on the off-spinner.
Ashwin, who became the highest wicket-taker in Tests in the 2015-16 season, rose to the No. 1 spot in ICC rankings emulating Bishan Singh Bedi’s 1973 feat.