Gautam Gambhir forced to retire hurt after injuring his left shoulder
Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was forced to go off the field after aggravating his injured left shoulder while batting in the second innings on Monday.
Gambhir and Murali Vijay walked out to bat for India, despite some doubt over whether the former would be allowed to bat. The reason? The left-hander was out of the field for a considerable period of time after sustaining an injury to his left shoulder and so creating doubts about him coming out in his customary position.
The rule says that when a player sustains an external injury and is out of the field for a certain period of time, then he will have to sit out for that much amount of time or the equivalent amount of overs before he can be deemed to take the field again.
Ravichandran Ashwin played a stellar role once again as India took a commanding 258-run lead in the third Test against New Zealand at Indore, bowling New Zealand out for 299 in their first innings.
Skipper Virat Kohli had the option of enforcing the follow-on, but decided against it and the Indian openers walked out to bat in the second innings for the hosts.
Gambhir was dismissed for 29 in the first innings, lbw by Trent Boult and had to leave the field again after aggravating the injury further when a dive towards the fag end saw him land on the left shoulder once again.
India finished at 18 for no loss at the end of the ay with Cheteshwar Pujara giving Vijay company in the middle.