West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell coped a serious blow on his helmet during the 9th match of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) between Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Zouks at Sabina Park on Thursday (September 12). The injury was so severe that Russell had to be stretchered off.

The incident occurred in the 14th over of the Tallawahs' inning when Russell failed to connect a pull off pacer Hardus Viljoen and the ball struck his helmet near the right ear.

The 31-year-old immediately fell on the ground and the Zouks fielders then removed his helmet to check for his injury. While Russell got up by himself, he had to leave the field on a stretcher.

The swashbuckling all-rounder was then taken for a CT scan. A medical update from the franchise later confirmed that Russell had not sustained any serious injury.

Coming to the match, Jamaica Tallawahs posted Jamaica posted 170/5 in 20 overs on the back of Glenn Phillips’ 34-ball 58 and Rovman Powell’s 22-ball 44. In reply, St Lucia Zouks rode on Rahkeem Cornwall’s 30-ball 75 to overhaul the target in 16.4 overs with five wickets in hand.

(With IANS inputs)