Nursing a groin injury, star Indian opener Virender Sehwag will have to clear a fitness test Monday before he can play in the final of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup.
JOHANNESBURG: Nursing a groin injury, star Indian opener Virender Sehwag will have to clear a fitness test Monday before he can play in the final of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup against Pakistan.
Sehwag picked up the injury while batting in the semifinal match against Australia, after which he had to take a runner.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that the injury had cast a cloud of doubt over the opener's prospect of playing in the final Monday but he exuded confidence that the Delhi batsman would clear the fitness test.
"Hopefully he should be fine. His fitness will be assessed on the morning of the match," Dhoni said.
Meanwhile, there seems no such worry on either Dhoni or Yuvraj Singh's fitness.
Dhoni had suffered back pain in the match against South Africa when he dived to stop S Sreesanth's wayward delivery that drifted down the leg. Dinesh Kaarthick, playing in place of injured Yuvraj, kept wicket for the remainder of the match.
Dhoni, in fact, had to clear a fitness test before he was allowed to play last night's semifinal against Australia.
Though he came up with an 18-ball cameo of 36 to swell the tally, Dhoni was clearly struggling whenever he tried to swivel. And before he walked out to bat, he was seen getting massage done in the dug-out area.
It was a strain on his lower back on the right hand side and Dhoni handed over the keeping gloves to Kaarthick, for he did not want to aggravate the injury.
On the other hand, Yuvraj sat out of the match against South Africa with tendonitis in the left arm.
He, however, came back to steer India to the final of the tournament with a 30-ball blitzkrieg of 70 but later admitted that he could still feel the pain.
"It's still bit sore but as long as we are winning, it's fine with me," said the left-hander, hinting he would not like to miss tomorrow's summit showdown with the arch-rivals.
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