India coach Rahul Dravid attended the press conference and gave updates on injuries of Rohit Sharma, Deepak Chahar and Kuldeep Sen, after Bangladesh defeated India in the second ODI of the three-match series in Dhaka by 5 runs to go 2-0 up in the series.
Thanks to Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s 100* and Mahmudullah’s 77 and their 148-run partnership, which helped Bangladesh rebuild from 69/6 to 271/7 in 50 overs. For India, Washington Sundar took three wickets, while Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj took two each.
In reply, India found themselves in trouble at 65/4, before Shreyas Iyer (82) and Akshar Patel (56) added 107 runs for the 5th wicket to bring India back into the match. But after their wickets, it was Rohit Sharma, who batted at no.9 after injuring his thumb early during Bangladesh’s innings, who kept India in the hunt with a terrific 51* knock in just 28 balls with 5 sixes and 3 fours to his name.
Despite hitting a six off the penultimate ball of the match when 12 runs were needed off the last 2 balls, Mustafizur bowled a brilliant yorker on the last ball to give Bangladesh a 5-run win.
Apart from the defeat, the biggest issue for India was the fitness of its players, as pacer Kuldeep Sen, who had made his debut for India in the last game, complained of a stiff back and was replaced by Umran Malik in the XI.
During the match, Deepak Chahar injured his hamstring and could only bowl 3 overs in the match, and then Rohit hurt his thumb, which he said was a dislocation and not a fracture.
India coach Rahul Dravid, in the press conference, said that Rohit Sharma will now travel back to Mumbai to get his injury assessed by doctors there and he will be in doubt for the Test series as well, which follows the ODIs and will begin from December 14 in Chattogram.
“We are struggling with a few injuries, which is not ideal for us. Kuldeep, Deepak and Rohit will certainly miss the next game. Kuldeep and Deepak are out of the series. Rohit will certainly miss the next game, fly back to Mumbai, consult an expert and see how it is. Whether he will come back for the Test match, I am not sure,” Dravid said.
“He had to go to the hospital. There was a dislocation in his hand. He has to set it, take a couple of injections and then get back to the field. Credit to him, he was very determined to go out and take a chance. It was amazing how close he got us," he added.
During his valiant knock, Rohit Sharma became only the second batter to cross the 500 sixes mark in international cricket and is only behind Chris Gayle, who hit 553 sixes in his 483-match career. Rohit now has 502 sixes in 428 international matches.
Talking about the innings, Dravid said, “It was phenomenal, I think for him to show that level of courage. He had a serious dislocation, had to go to the hospital to get that set right, stitches in his hands, a couple of injections. Credit to him, to have that kind of determination and go out there to take a chance and it was amazing how close he brought us with that innings.”
The third and final ODI will be played on December 10 in Chattogram.
(India Today/Indian Express inputs)
