Duleep Trophy 2022 | Venkatesh Iyer suffers blow to neck in wild incident with Chintan Gaja
Venkatesh Iyer was the victim of a ghastly incident in the Duleep Trophy after a wild throw left him needing the ambulance
|(Twitter)
Venkatesh Iyer was at the receiving end of an unfortunate incident in the Duleep Trophy on Friday after being struck on the neck by a throw from Chintan Gaja. The batter simply defended a regular ball only for Gaja to randomly fling it at him unprovoked, causing the former to leave in an ambulance.
The ongoing Duleep Trophy encounter between West Zone and Central Zone at the SNR College Cricket Ground in Coimbatore saw an unruly incident occur during the second day's play on Friday, ultimately leading to an ambulance being called to the middle of the ground. All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, representing Central, was batting in a difficult position at the time against medium pacer Chintan Gaja when the latter's careless throw left him reeling on the ground.
Batting first, West Zone had notched up a commendable score of 257 on the back of half-centuries from Prithvi Shaw and Rahul Tripathi. In response, Central could not keep their wickets together as one batsman tumbled after the other to leave them stranded at 66-5Â after Chintan Gaja got rid of Rinku Singh to call Venkatesh Iyer to the crease. The capped batter seemed keen to show intent early on in the innings and hauled the bowler for a six to stamp authority.
Seemingly incensed, Gaja's next delivery fetched a defence when the 27-year-old committed a ghastly misjudgment. Picking up the ball, he wildly flung it towards the stumps only to catch Iyer's neck, leading to the batsman collapsing in severe pain. All players huddled around him before the umpires called for an ambulance to escort him for medical attention.
Eventually, Iyer returned to the crease and ended his innings at 14(9) while Gaja managed just one wicket albeit Central were bowled out for 128. Currently, West Zone are cruising along at 254/5 and are in a prime position to advance to the final.
Unpleasant scene here. Venkatesh Iyer has been hit on the shoulder as Gaja throws the ball defended ball back at the batter. Venkatesh is down on the ground in pain and the ambulance arrives. #DuleepTrophy pic.twitter.com/TCvWbdgXFp
â Dhruva Prasad (@DhruvaPrasad9) September 16, 2022
