Team India suffered a scare in the penultimate over of the day three of the first Test match against Sri Lanka when Mohammed Shami walked off the field, failing to complete his over after the pacer pulled off his hamstring.
(Read Here: Jason Sangha becomes youngest Australian to score a first-class century against England)
He had just one delivery left in the over, but the bowler walked off the field, which tells about the intensity of his injury. The over was completed by the India skipper Virat Kohli.
It was the second time in the day when Shami walked off the field, as earlier as well, he went in the dressing room for few minutes, the reason for which is unknown but this issue has now come as a big blow for India.
However, Cheteshwar Pujara has said there is nothing to worry about, and Shami would be on the field on the day four,
“I don’t think there’s anything serious. I’m not sure exactly what has happened but it’s just a minor injury and should be back on the field tomorrow,” he said.
As of now, there is no official word from the BCCI, and team India would be hoping the pacer should get fit well in time, to come and bowl against the Lankan team, which holds an upper hand in the game at the moment.
(Read Here: Craig McDermott heaps praises on Australian pace attack)
The visitors are just seven runs away from team India’s first innings total of 172, and they still have six wickets in hand, which makes the job easy for them.
The Dinesh Chandima-led side will look to get a lead of over 100 runs to make the job difficult for the Virat Kohli-led team when they come out to bat next time. Slowly though, the game is pushing towards draw due to rain and bad light as only 105.1 overs have been bowled in the game in three days, and only a miracle could see any result coming out of this contest.
Meanwhile, team India would have its fingers crossed on Shami’s fitness, as his unavailability will have a major impact on the team, as in case he is not fit to bowl, then team India would be left with just two frontline pacers, i.e. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, which would lead to increase in workload on these two bowlers.