A scary incident occurred in the Duleep Trophy match between Central Zone and West Zone at the SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore, on Friday when Venkatesh Iyer had to be carried off the field in an ambulance!
In the post-lunch session, Venkatesh Iyer smacked bowler Chintan Gaja for a six. After that, he played a defensive shot back to the bowler, but, perhaps frustrated after being hit for a six, Gaza threw the ball back to the batter aiming for the stumps. However, his throw was nowhere near the stumps and hit Venkatesh on the neck and he went down to the ground straightaway in pain.
Everyone rushed to the action in the middle to tend to the collapsed batter; the doctor on duty at the ground was quick to rush to the field on an ambulance. He recovered after some time but left the field, retired hurt.
lost in all this mele, some context. venkatesh iyer stepped down and hit gaja for six over longoff/covers regions the previous ball. obviously the bowler wasn’t too pleased. but this was so poor
— S Dipak Ragav (@dipakragav) September 16, 2022
Venkatesh Iyer hit by a bowler’s throw on his neck
Thankfully, the good news is that Venkatesh is conscious and has even returned to the bat again after a checkup with the doctor.
“He is fine and back in the team hotel. I have spoken to him and he looks quite ok now,” an official of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), who was at the ground when the incident took place, told Cricbuzz.
“It was a relief that there was no concussion. He did not feel dizzy and he looked fine. But he went off the field and the doctors on duty attended to him. He came back to bat again. After he got out, he was taken to the Kauvery Hospital in the city and all things appeared normal. He has sounded fine,” said the TNCA official.
Venkatesh Iyer is back on the field but what Gaja did is unacceptable.
📸: @peri_periasamy pic.twitter.com/oLTR0Y0aml
— KnightRidersXtra (@knightridersxtr) September 16, 2022
Venkatesh Iyer, who’s played 2 ODIs and 9 T20Is for India until February this year, scored 14 runs.
After the day’s play, Iyer said that he was feeling better.
“I was hit below my ear. It was a shock initially but I am absolutely fine,” Iyer told Cricbuzz from Coimbatore. When asked about whether he will play in the second innings, the all-rounder said, “I don’t know, I have been kept under 24-hour observation. I will have to see how things go.”
Venkatesh Iyer, who was once touted to replace Hardik Pandya in the Indian team as the seam-bowling all-rounder, fell out of selectors’ favour after a poor IPL 2022 season with KKR.
