During the game, Ajinkya Rahane took the ball thrice, once to his glove, once to his forearm, and once on the helmet, but luckily, the injuries were not severe.
The Indian cricket team has been facing a tough time both physically and mentally on the pitch. After a grueling 121 overs of fielding and bowling to Australia's batsmen, the Indian side struggled to get going when they entered the batting order against an energized Australian lineup. To make matters worse, Day 2 of the WTC Final 2023 saw numerous Indian batters taking hits from Australia's ferocious pacers with the Duke ball. Shardul Thakur was seen in pain after pulling the front arm guard, and commentators Ricky Ponting and Dinesh Karthik paid attention to the incident.
During the game, Ajinkya Rahane took the ball thrice, once to his glove, once to his forearm, and once on the helmet, but luckily, the injuries were not severe. His teammate KS Bharat also went through similar agony on Day 2 of the WTC Final. One of the most amusing moments of the Test match occurred when the wicketkeeper-batsman was removed in the first over of Day 3 by Scott Boland, and his replacement Shardul Thakur was subjected to the same abuse by the Australian bowlers.
Australian captain Pat Cummins was determined to win the match and heated things up on the pitch. Shardul Thakur entered to play the match without wearing any arm guards and was hit by the ball in the over of Cummins. Nevertheless, the Australian pacer banged his right hand, prompting Team India's physiotherapist to run outside to check on Shardul's bowling arm. The next delivery struck Shardul harder than before, this time hitting him in the forearm.
After the incident, the Indian all-rounder took precautions to protect himself by donning arm-guards on both hands. The sight of Thakur's actions left former Australian captain Ricky Ponting and Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik taken aback.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Ponting, to which Karthik added: "Neither have I."
Shardul, in particular, displayed an impressive display of grit and determination during his batting, which resulted in a much-needed century partnership with Rahane.
During the first session, the pair managed to score an impressive 109 runs off 145 balls, securing India's loss of only one wicket. Unfortunately, their success was short-lived in the second session, as Ajinkya Rahane fell to Pat Cummins at 89, thanks to a remarkable catch by Cameron Green at gully. Despite this setback, Thakur persevered and reached a half-century before ultimately falling to Green at 51. India's innings came to a close at 296, with Australia taking a commanding first-innings lead of 173 runs.
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