World Cup 2019: Major injury scares for the teams before the start of tournament

Injuries are the worst thing a player can have with less than a week left for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The cricketers prepare extremely hard to get themselves ready for this prestigious tournament. However, some of the important players have suffered injuries either in the nets sessions or in the practice games. Tournament favourite Team India has been hit by two massive blows during their practice sessions.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan got hit on his helmet while taking throwdowns from batting coach Sanjay Bangar. He was slightly late getting onto the short-pitched ball. Given that the throwdowns come at a great pace, the ball hit him hard on his grill. It created enough of an impact to get him injuries in the area around his lips. The left-hander, who looked in pain initially, walked back into the dressing room later with a smile on his face.

Another major scare for the ‘Men in Blue’ is the injury of Vijay Shankar. The all-rounder, who is gearing up to take the crucial number four position in the Indian batting order, also got injured during the practice session. He got hit on his hand and looked to be in some pain.

Also, England skipper Eoin Morgan suffered a flake fracture in his left index finger during one of the fielding drills ahead of the warmup game against Australia. The left-hander will not be able to play this game but is confirmed to play the opening encounter against South Africa.

Injuries in the warm-up matches

In the first warmup game before the start of the World Cup, Afghanistan faced Pakistan. Despite Babar Azam scoring a century in this game, the Afghan bowlers managed to put up quite a clinical show. However, in the second innings, the openers of Afghanistan, Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai struggled with their fitness. Both of them had troubles with their hamstrings. While the former walked back into the dressing room after scoring 23 runs off 25 balls, Zazai managed to play till he got out.

He provided his team with a breezy start in the run chase by scoring 49 runs from 28 balls. In the other practice game played between South Africa and Sri Lanka, the Asian team suffered some huge blows. Firstly, Avishka Fernando twisted his ankle in the 18th over of the game. Then, Isuru Udana, who bowled the 47th over, was hit firmly on his wrist as the batsman smashed one straight back in the direction of the bowler. Udana had no time to react and all he could do was put his hand in the way.