Standby Indian fast bowler Avesh Khan who surprisingly came out to play for the County Select XI against India in the first-class game ahead of the Test series against England has been ruled out of the rest of the warm-up game and won’t take any further part on Day 2 and Day 3. Given the fact that it was an official first-class game, the County Select XI will be a bowler down for the rest of the match.
The host team had requested the Indian team management to allow two of their players to play for the County XI due to the unavailability of some of their players and they readily obliged. Rohit Sharma, the stand-in skipper for India in the warm-up game won the toss and opted to bat and Avesh Khan was handed the new ball with Craig Miles.
He was all over the place and didn’t managed to find the perfect line and was smashed for 24 runs in the first three overs as Mayank Agarwal played him beautifully and made full use of his poor lengths. However, he started off his second spell quite well as he finally found the correct channel. It was on the 5th delivery of the 35th over that Avesh Khan had to leave the field owing to a thumb injury.
Hanuma Vihari who was looking in good touch drilled a full delivery outside off straight back to the bowler and Avesh Khan instantly knew that he was in trouble. He called for the physio straight away and by the look of things, he had dislocated his left thumb as the physio tried to get that back on place. He was sent for scans are remains under observation.
India posted a challenging 311 on the board in the first innings courtesy a sensational century from the blade of KL Rahul who batted at No 5. Along with Ravindra Jadeja, he shared a crucial stand and bailed India out of trouble after they had lost 4 wickets for 107. When the piece was written, the County Select XI had reached 12 in the 5th over without losing any wickets. Haseeb Hameed and JD Libby were at the crease while Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yada opened the bowling for the Indians.