Pandya twists ankle, leaves India worried ahead of tough matches
Pune, (PTI): In a major injury scare for India, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya hobbled off the field after twisting his ankle while bowling his first over in a World Cup match against Bangladesh, here on Thursday.
Pandya suffered the injury during the third delivery of the ninth over when he attempted to stop a straight drive from Bangladesh opener Litton Das with his right foot in his follow-through.
He twisted his left ankle as the ball passed under his leg and he stumbled to the ground.
Pandya felt discomfort from the moment he stood up before getting his right ankle strapped, resulting in in a long delay. He hobbled towards his bowling mark before realising that he could not carry on and walked off the field.
Suryakumar Yadav came in as the substitute fielder.
Pandya did not take part in the remainder of the match and later went for scans.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said the all-rounder has not suffered any major injury but was non-committal on his participation in the next game on Sunday against New Zealand in Dharamsala.
"There is no major damage, that is good for us. But honestly with an injury like that, we have to assess every day and we hope that he pulls up well tomorrow morning and then we will do whatever is required," Rohit said after the match.
India and New Zealand are the two unbeaten teams in the World Cup with four wins each.
Pandya has been used as the first change option ahead of Shardul Thakur. With India's top order firing, Pandya has not had much to do at number six but his batting skills are as important as his seam bowling.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
