England have faced a massive blow on the third day of the third Test match against India at Lord's Stadium in London as their spinner Shoaib Bashir left the field midway after getting an injury on his left hand while trying to take a nearly impossible catch to dismiss Ravindra Jadeja in the second session. Bashir is in a purple patch as he dismissed KL Rahul, who had just notched up his second century at the Home of Cricket.
The incident happened during the fifth ball of the 78th over. Bashir bowled a flighted delivery to Ravindra Jadeja, who ran down the pitch and smashed it hard and low towards the spinner. The England off-spinner tried to get both hands to the ball, but he just didn't have enough time. The ball hit him on his left hand, and he went down on the ground, staying there for a bit before getting up and calling for help.
The physio took a look at Bashir's injury and it seemed that he was not well. The 21-year-old left the field and received some treatment. Joe Root completed the over with his off-spin bowling. Bashir would have bowled at least another over in his spell, which would have been the 80th over in India's first innings. Root filled stepped in and bowled seven deliveries before England decided to take the second new ball immediately, after it was available at the end of the 80th over.
England's medical team will assess Bashir's condition for now. He is England's lone specialist spinner in the playing XI for the Lord's Test. The hosts will surely hope that Bashir's injury isn't as bad as it seemed when it happened. The Chertsey-born has bowled 14.5 overs in the innings and conceded 59 runs while picking up the wicket of Rahul. His spell also included two maidens.
Coming back to the Lord's Test, while writing this copy, after KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant's wickets, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja are stitching a partnership, both all-rounders have added 72 runs for the sixth wicket. India are trailing by 61 runs.