Indian skipper Rohit Sharma escaped a serious injury during IND vs NZ World Cup 2023 match at HPCA Stadium in Dharmshala on Sunday. The incident happened in the 10th over of the innings when Rohit slid to stop the ball at mid-off, but his fingers got caught up between his body and the turf.
The Indian skipper fumed while looking at the outfield and immediately went off the ground to get a treatment. In his absence, wicketkeeper KL Rahul took the leadership charge. Rohit returned to the field two overs later.
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Notably, the ‘patchy’ outfield in Dharmshala has been come under scrutiny after Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb ul Haq’s injury.
Head coach Jonathan Trott criticised the outfield and said that Mujeeb was lucky to escape a serious injury.
“We see in cricket players being encouraged to improve their fielding but if they are afraid to dive, I mean we’re lucky Mujeeb (Ur Rahman) didn’t have a serious knee injury towards the end. We saw Devon Conway from New Zealand early on as well (in the tournament opener against England on Thursday). Something for them to look at but I’m definitely not putting any blame on that for our loss today,” the former England batsman said.
After Trott’s remark, the International Cricket Council’s independent pitch consultant Andy Atkinson judged it ‘average’ but good to go for matches.
“The process for assessing the condition of the pitch and outfield lies with the match officials under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, and the outfield at Dharamsala was rated as ‘average’ after the Afghanistan-Bangladesh match. Additionally, the ICC independent pitch consultant has taken a look at the outfield today, and is comfortable with the conditions – as is Javagal Srinath, the Match Referee for the next game,” an ICC spokesperson stated.
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