India batter Ajinkya Rahane (89) has admitted that his finger injury is “painful”. For those who don’t know, the 35-year old player was hit on the index finger of his right hand by a Pat Cummins delivery on the second day of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023 final at The Oval.
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If truth be told, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a large majority of people would be unaware of Rahane’s injury. A primary reason behind the same is him scoring a majestic 26th Test half-century to prevent India from falling short of the follow-on target today.
Batting with a taped finger since yesterday, Rahane never let fans come to know about the pain he was going though. Making a comeback into the national side after almost 17 months, one would expect Rahane (or any other player, for that matter) to fight it out in the middle in spite of an injury.
Ajinkya Rahane Injury Update
Speaking to host broadcaster Star Sports Network after Stumps, Day 3, Rahane was first asked about the status of the injury. A determined response included him confidently stating that the injury wouldn’t affect his batting in the second innings of the all-important final.
“It’s painful but quite manageable. [Can injury will affect batting in the second innings?] I don’t think so.”
Currently leading by 296 runs with six wickets in hand, Australia would be wanting to challenge India by asking them to seal the highest successful Test run-chase in England in order to win the championship. Speaking particularly of this venue, India already need to chase the highest target if they are to not lose their second WTC final in a row.
In such a situation, an in-form Rahane’s presence in the middle-order would be of mammoth advantage to his team irrespective of whether Rohit Sharma and his men will be pressing for a win or a draw.
