Virat Kohli injured his shoulder while trying to save a boundary in the 40th over © PTI
Virat Kohli will undergo scans on his right shoulder to determine his fitness for the rest of the third Test against Australia in Ranchi. Kohli injured his shoulder in the 40th over of the first day, when he chased a drive from Peter Handscomb off Ravindra Jadeja. Sprinting from mid-on towards the long-on boundary, Kohli dived to pull the ball back before it reached the rope, tumbled, and landed on his right shoulder as he did so.
He went off the field immediately, and did not return for the rest of the day, with Ajinkya Rahane standing in as captain. Kohli watched the rest of the day’s play from the dressing room with an ice pack strapped to his shoulder.
In his post-match press conference, fielding coach R Sridhar said the team wasn’t yet sure of the extent of Kohli’s injury.
“Virat Kohli’s injury, the exact status of it will be known by tomorrow morning,” Sridhar said. “He’s going to undergo some scans later today and we’ll know the exact status of it tomorrow morning and what happened today is that we took a precaution to make sure he doesn’t aggravate that injury.
“And as far as the technique of the dive is concerned I think it was quite an intense chase to the boundary line and in his intent to save that one run he stopped the ball and landed on his right shoulder when he rolled over. Impact was quite heavy because of the momentum he was carrying and so there was a shock on his right shoulder. That is the current status.”
The ICC’s playing conditions state that if a player is absent from the field for longer than eight minutes, the player, “shall not be permitted to bat unless or until, in the aggregate, he has returned to the field and/or his side’s innings has been in progress for at least that length of playing time for which he has been absent or, if earlier, when his side has lost five wickets.”
However, the clause does not apply if the player has suffered “an external blow (as opposed to an internal injury such as a pulled muscle) whilst participating earlier in the match and consequently been forced to leave the field. Nor shall it apply if the player has been absent for very exceptional and wholly acceptable reasons (other than injury or illness).”
While it is unclear if the umpires will or have ruled on this, it is likely that, because of the nature of injury, Kohli may be allowed to bat at his regular position in the line-up.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo