Australia vs India 2018-19: Prithvi Shaw Likely To Return For Third Test, Says Ravi Shastri
Dec 5, 2018 at 1:28 PM
India head coach Ravi Shastri, on Wednesday, said young opener Prithvi Shaw is likely to recover from his ankle injury for the third Test against Australia.
The young batting sensation suffered the injury while fielding in the warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI and has been ruled out of the first Test.
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Prithvi Shaw, fielding on the deep mid-wicket fence, caught CA XI opener Max Bryant just inside the rope and fell over while trying to keep the ball in play as momentum carried him beyond. In doing so, he ended up twisting his ankle while landing.
Shaw immediately fell to the ground while grimacing as India physio Patrick Farhart rushed to attend to him. The youngster was then carried off the field as he was unable to put any pressure on his left leg. BCCI later confirmed that he was taken to the hospital for scans.
The scans revealed a lateral ligament injury and Shaw will be undergo an “intensive rehabilitation program” to become available at the earliest.
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Expressing his disappointment over the injury, Ravi Shastri said Shaw could be in line to return for the third Test.
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“It was heartbreaking to see him go down,” Shastri told cricket.com.au.
“But the good thing is he’s recovering quickly. He’s already started walking. Hopefully if we can get him to run a bit by the weekend, that’s really good signs.
“With youth on his side there might just be a case where he might recover quicker. We’ll make a call as and when we get closer to Perth,” he added.
The third Test will be the traditional Boxing Day game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, starting a day after Christmas.
Meanwhile, India have announced their 12-man squad for the series-opener. In Shaw’s absence, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay will open the innings. Australia have also announced their playing eleven for the first Test.
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India XII:
KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma
Australia XI:
Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c,wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood (vc)