Another setback ahead of WTC Final as star pacer suffers shoulder injury during IPL 2023
India are already heading into the big final against Australia at The Oval without the services of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah.
Crickate
A star pacer suffered a shoulder injury during the ongoing IPL 2023 on Monday, dealing a significant blow to the Indian cricket team ahead of the upcoming World Test Championship next month. Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Jasprit Bumrah have already been ruled out of India's upcoming final against Australia at The Oval.
Jaydev Unadkat of the Lucknow Super Giants sustained a shoulder injury on Sunday, as reported by IPL broadcasters via a clip from LSG's practice session at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow for the IPL 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The footage showed that Unadkat injured his shoulder when he tripped on his bowling arm while practicing in the nets.
The team physio promptly administered an ice pack to Unadkat, but LSG has not yet released an official statement providing an update on the injury and its severity.
If Unadkat is ruled out of the WTC final, India's plans will be severely hampered, given that another fast bowler, Umesh Yadav, is also questionable with an injury. Due to a minor injury, he missed Kolkata Knight Riders' last encounter. Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj represent the remaining fast bowling unit.
According to a report, India has two pacers on their five-person standby list for the WTC final, including Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar; therefore, one of them could be inserted.
This will be India's second attempt to win the WTC trophy. In the inaugural iteration of the tournament in 2021, India lost the final at Lord's by eight wickets to New Zealand. Meanwhile, Australia reached their first WTC final in the 2021-2023 cycle.
