The Boxing Day Test between India and Australia saw Indian speedster Umesh Yadav leaving the match midway after picking up a nasty calf injury. Yadav picked up the injury while bowling his fourth over and had to be taken off the field in tearing pain. The 33-year-old limped over on completing his follow-through and had to be attended to by the physios immediately. He was taken back to the dressing room following the incident.
According to ANI, Umesh is now set to miss the rest of the second Test and the entire third Test due to the injury. The bowler underwent scans after complaining of severe pain in his calf muscle.
“Umesh Yadav complained of pain in his calf while bowling his 4th over and was assessed by the BCCI medical team. He is being taken for scans now,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India had informed in a media update.
However, sources in the know of developments in the Indian camp said that he will be looking to get back 100 percent for the last game.
“His scans have come in and he will miss the third Test as well. He will now look at making a return for the last game of the series as we have more than two weeks to go before we play the final game from January 15,” the source said.
India is already lacking the services of Mohammed Shami who suffered an injured wrist in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval. And now, Yadav’s injury has left the visitors with a further depleted bowling attack. While the likes of Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not make it to Australia due to injuries, IPL hero T Natarajan is most likely to be added to the squad as a replacement. Natarajan made his ODI and T20I debut in this very tour down under and has impressed immensely with his exceptional bowling performances. The left-armer is still present in Australia as a net bowler.
“With limited options available, the team management can ask for Natarajan to be added to the squad,” a source said.