India opener Smriti Mandhana has been cleared of any serious injury after she was hit on the helmet in a warm-up game against South Africa.
According to an ICC report, the 25-year-old Mandhana was assessed by the team doctor following the incident and was originally declared fit to continue, only to retire hurt over and a half later after another consultation.
Smriti Mandhana was hit on the head in the warm-up match against South Africa
The report further states that the left-hander felt no concussion symptoms according to the medical staff at the time, nor experienced delayed effects from the incident.
India will play another warm-up game against West Indies on Tuesday. India’s World Cup campaign will start on March 6 against arch-rivals Pakistan. On Sunday Pakistan defeated the hosts New Zealand in a warm-up game.
India were runners-up in the previous World Cup 2017 when they faced a heartbreaking defeat against England. Smriti Mandhana started her world cup journey in the 2017 edition with two back-to-back Player of the Match performances. In her 64-match ODI career, she so far scored 2461 runs with an average of 41.71 which included 4 hundreds and 20 fifties
On Sunday in a warm-up game against South Africa, she was hit on the helmet by a Shabnim Ismail’s bouncer. As a precautionary measure, she got retired hurt. However, with the help of a terrific hundred by Harmanpreet Kaur, India beat South Africa by 2 runs.
Batting first, India posted a total of 244/9 in 50 overs. Apart from Harmanpreet, Yastika Bhatia also scored a fifty. In reply, South Africa looked like cruising at one moment as Laura Wolvaardt (83) and Sune Luus (86) put on a good partnership but regular wickets kept them in check and eventually they fell inches short of their target.
Rajeshwari Gayakwad who also bowled the last over was the most successful bowler for India with figures of 4/46. Meghna Singh, Sneh Rana, and Poonam Yadav also picked one wicket each.
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