England, India sweat on injuries to key players at Lord’s

England and India are hoping injuries suffered by Ben Stokes and Rishabh Pant on the opening day of the third Test at Lord’s are not serious and the duo will be able to continue playing in the potentially series-deciding contest. The series is currently level at 1-1.

Stokes appeared hampered by a groin injury while batting on day one, with the skipper obtaining treatment on the field and hobbling between the wickets when at the crease with former captain Joe Root.

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While Stokes remained unbeaten on 39 at stumps alongside Root on 99 not out as England reached 251/4, teammate Ollie Pope is hopeful that his captain hasn’t suffered anything serious and will be able to continue at the crease when play resumes on Friday.

“Fingers crossed he can do something magic and come back strong,” Pope said of Stokes.

“I’ve not seen him since, so fingers crossed there’s nothing too serious. But clearly we’ve got a big Test over the next four days and we’ve got a big two (at Old Trafford and The Oval) coming up as well, so it is important to try and manage him.”

India have their own injury concern, with wicketkeeper and vice-captain Pant leaving the field midway through the opening day after he hurt his finger when stopping an errant delivery from Jasprit Bumrah down the leg side.

While the incident looked quite innocuous at first, Pant left the field after receiving treatment and was replaced behind the stumps by back-up keeper Dhruv Jurel for the rest of the day.

The BCCI confirmed the injury later in the day on their social media channels, but failed to provide any insight into the extent of the problem.

Later, Nitish Kumar Reddy was quizzed for more information during the presser at stumps, and the all-rounder suggested further details would be provided on Friday morning.

“To be honest, I just came off the field, and I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t heard anything, but we will hear more tomorrow morning before we go back,” he said.