India face England on Thursday in the second semifinal of the ICC T20 World Cup. Ahead of the crucial game, the team has been practicing at full throttle. During the net session on Tuesday, however, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma suffered a blow on his forearm. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be a serious injury. (More Cricket News)
What’s more, England captain Jos Buttler had words of praise for his ex-Mumbai Indians teammate. They would be salve for the out-of-form Sharma’s wounds, literal or metaphorical.
On Tuesday, the Mumbai-based Sharma was undergoing drills as he faced the Indian team's throwdown expert S Raghu at the Adelaide Oval. Sharma was attempting a pull shot when he missed the ball. It struck his forearm and the Hitman initially seemed in pain.
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Sharma took some time off and applied an ice pack to the injured area. After about twenty minutes, he returned to the nets. As per information filtering in from Adelaide, the captain is doing fine and should be available for the game against England.
"He didn't feel much discomfort when he batted for the second time. A CT scan or an X-ray might not be needed. Also, we have one more day in the middle, which is also an optional session. It doesn't look serious as of now," a source told PTI.
Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton was seen talking to Sharma for a long time at the ground. While Sharma got back to training, throwdown specialists were told not to go full tilt. Instead, Sharma mostly played defensive shots to check if his movements were okay.
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Separately, Buttler complimented Sharma’s captaincy skills and his calm temperament.
"They (India) are a brilliant team and Rohit Sharma is a brilliant captain who I think has asked them to play more positively and with more freedom. I was a bit young in my IPL journey, but tactically I thought he was very good, making good decisions but not always the obvious ones," Buttler said in an interview.
“He has that sense of calm when everything around him is going on at a million miles an hour. A bit like when he bats, he makes it look pretty effortless."
(With PTI Inputs)
