India face big blow ahead of CWC25 as pacer suffers injury in warm-up clash

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 25 (ANI): India have been hit with a massive injury blow, as pacer Arundhati Reddy was wheelchaired off the field in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup warm-up game against England on Thursday.

Doubts loom over Reddy’s participation in the World Cup following a freak accident in her follow-through while bowling against England in Bengaluru, as per ICC.

The pacer, who had earlier snapped the wicket of England opener Amy Jones, looked poised to take a return catch struck back at her by Heather Knight, but landed on her left leg awkwardly before falling to the ground.

Doctors raced onto the ground and attempted to help Reddy off the ground, before a wheelchair was called for the bowler.

In 11 ODIs since her debut last year, the right-arm pacer has taken 15 wickets at an average of 32.66, with best figures of 4/26. In her most recent bilateral outing against Australia, she took four wickets in two matches, including three wickets in Delhi. This year, she has taken seven wickets in six matches at an average of 41.85.

Team India will start their ICC Women’s World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on September 30 in Guwahati. The two-time finalists in 2005 and 2017, India will be aiming to lift their maiden title in home conditions. They are heading into the tournament after a 1-2 series loss to Australia recently.

Coming to the warm-up game, India elected to field first, and England is 214/3 in 36 overs at the time of writing.

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud. Reserves: Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Minnu Mani, Sayali Satghare. (ANI)

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