Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: In a major blow to India, young opener Prithvi Shaw has been ruled out of the first Test against Australia, scheduled to begin from December 6 in Adelaide. He suffered an ankle injury during the third day of the tour game against Cricket Australia XI at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday morning.
Shaw picked up the injury in the 15th over of Cricket Australia XI’s innings when Max Bryant latched on to Ravichandran Ashwin’s delivery and hit him for a six at midwicket.
He managed to get under the ball and catch it but spilled the chance while tumbling over the ropes. In the process, he injured his ankle and was visibly in pain and didn’t get up immediately. He was carried off the field by two members of the Indian support staff without putting any further pressure on his ankle.
Hours after to the incident, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a statement to confirm Shaw’s ousting from the Adelaide Test.
“Shaw underwent scans this morning and the reports revealed a lateral ligament injury. Shaw will be unavailable for the First Test against Australia in Adelaide. He will undergo an intensive rehabilitation program to hasten the recovery and be available for selection at the earliest,” the statement read.
UPDATE – Prithvi Shaw ruled out of First Test against Australia in Adelaide. https://t.co/bOB8e6Ijrv
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 30, 2018
Shaw’s outing may result in the deployment of Murali and KL Rahul at the opening slot in the first Test against Australia. Vijay, who was dropped from the last two Tests against England following a poor run, has a good track record in Australia in the red-ball format. During India’s last visit, he scored 481 runs including a century and 4 fifties.
Prithvi batted superbly on Thursday against the Cricket Australia XI. Opening the innings, he top-scored for with an impressive 66 which included 11 boundaries.
