Setback for India: Prithvi Shaw out of first Test with ankle injury
Sydney, Nov 30: Indian opener Prithvi Shaw was Friday ruled out of the first Test against Australia after suffering an ankle injury during the ongoing tour game against Cricket Australia XI here.
His injury is a massive setback for the visitors as the 19-year-old was expected to open in the first Test beginning December 6 at Adelaide.
With Shaw unavailable, K L Rahul and Murali Vijay will be India's openers in the first Test. The BCCI did not name any replacement for the Mumbai teenager.
"Opening batsman Prithvi Shaw suffered a left ankle injury while attempting a catch at the boundary ropes in the tour game against CA XI at The Sydney Cricket Ground," said the BCCI in a statement.
"Shaw underwent scans this morning and the reports revealed a lateral ligament injury. Shaw will be unavailable for the first Test against Australia. He will undergo an intensive rehabilitation program to hasten the recovery and be available for selection at the earliest," it added.
Shaw picked up the injury in the 15th over of Cricket Australia XI's innings, when Max Bryant latched on to Ravichandran Ashwin's delivery and hit him for a six at mid wicket.
Shaw managed to get under the ball and catch it, but spilled the chance while tumbling over the ropes. In the process, he injured his ankle.
Shaw was visibly in pain and didn't get up immediately. He was carried off the field by two members of the Indian support staff without putting any further pressure on his ankle.
Shaw had scored a hundred on Test debut in the home series against the West Indies last month, raising expectations from the batting sensation ahead of the Australia tour.
The series against Australia will feature four Test matches.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
