Umesh Yadav's cobra-like short ball hits Dean Elgar on his helmet

Dean Elgar scored a superlative 160 in the first innings of the Visakhapatnam Test against India, but after that, he has had to face some trouble in the middle. In the ongoing Test versus India in Ranchi, the left-handed batsman has had a torrid time as well. In the first innings, the southpaw couldn’t move his hands away from a well-directed short ball from speedster Mohammed Shami.

The leather brushed his gloves and nestled into Wriddhiman Saha’s gloves behind the wickets. After getting all out for 162, South Africa conceded a lead of 335 runs and the hosts made them bat again. Even as following on, the Proteas lost Quinton de Kock, Zubayr Hamza, skipper Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma in quick succession. All of a sudden, India reduced the visitors to 22 for four.

Umesh Yadav takes down Dean Elgar

Amidst the hemorrhage of wickets, Elgar looked elegant. He creamed three boundaries and went into the Tea break, unbeaten on 16 runs off 29 deliveries. However, just before the interval, Elgar was faced with another horrendous occurring. In the third ball of 10th over, the batsman was hit flush on the helmet by a thunderous short-ball from the in-form fast bowler Umesh Yadav.

The leather kicked up and rammed him on the side of the helmet. He took his eyes of the ball and fell down, immediately after copping the nasty blow. Seeing him collapsing, the Indian players rushed towards him, checking on his well-being. The physios quickly rushed on to the park to check whether Elgar is fine or not. Keeping in mind the situation, an early tea was called.

To the relief of the fans and teammates, he walked off the park by himself and that’s definitely a positive sign. A concussion procedure was also done. As per the new laws, concussion substitutes are allowed. Marnus Labuschagne and Jermaine Blackwood has thus far been the concussion substitutes of Steve Smith and Darren Bravo in the Lord’s and Jamaica Tests respectively.

For the time being, further developments on Elgar remains to be seen. After the Tea break, it was debutant George Linde, who came out to bat along with Heinrich Klaasen. Linde was impressive with the bat in the first innings after scoring 37 off 81 with three fours and a six.

Here is the video

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