India’s limited-overs format captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni faced a freak accident during the third and series-deciding Twenty-20 International (T20I) match against Zimbabwe at Harare on Wednesday. The 34-year old batsman suffered an injury to his right eye when he tried to step out and hit the Zimbabwean pacer Donald Tiripano out of the park.
However, he failed to connect and edged the ball onto the stumps after which bails flew and one of them squeezed through the grill of his helmet to hit his eye.
The Captain Cool, who has battled with pain on a number incidents in the past, took to social networking site Facebook to share what he went through yesterday. Dhoni posted a picture of himself which he took after the conclusion of the match, with the caption, “That’s what happens when u get hit by bails, lucky only had to keep wickets with blurred vision and pain”.
Here’s his photo with a bloodshot eye:
After asked to bat first by the hosts, India were struggling to keep the run rate up when the incident happened and were down to just 93 runs for three wickets from 16 overs and one ball. The right-hander tried to inject some pace in Indian innings and targeted the fast bowler Tiripano but could only manage an edge onto the stumps.
It was another disappointing outing with the willow for the flamboyant batsman who has rarely batted in now concluded India tour of Zimbabwe and scored just 9 runs off 13 balls.
Also read: Reports: Anil Kumble set to be appointed as Indian Cricket team's new coach
The 2011 World Cup winning skipper, however, managed to keep wickets for his side during Zimbabwe's chase and captained India to a thrilling three-run win. India also clinched the three-match T20I series 2-1.
Dhoni also levelled the legendary Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting’s tally of the most number of International matches as a captain. Presently at 324 matches, Dhoni with no current plans of retiring, is set to go ahead of the Aussie.
It is also important to mention that the South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher also suffered a similar injury which forced him to retire from all forms of cricket during his England tour in 2012. A bail hit Boucher's left eye while he was behind the wickets during a practice game against Somerset.
The wicketkeeper-batsman who holds the record for the most Test dismissals by a gloveman wasn't as fortunate as Indian skipper and the flying bail damaged his eyeball. He immediately returned to his country for a surgery and sadly was forced to cut short his cricket career.
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