Shoulder injury rules out K Gowtham from Irani Cup

RoI spinner K Gowtham has been ruled out of the Irani Cup in Nagpur after he apparently sustained a shoulder injury while bowling on the second day

Rest of India off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham has been ruled out of the Irani Cup in Nagpur. The 30-year-old apparently sustained a shoulder injury while bowling on the second day. Gowtham, however, will bat if required. 

Gowtham’s absence will definitely cause trouble for RoI skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the second innings in the well-poised match against Vidarbha. The Nagpur pitch showed enough signs that it might break up on day four and five making the spinners' role pivotal. Even in the first innings, it was the spinners who took wickets at crucial junctures, claiming six wickets on day two for RoI.

K Gowtham (2-33) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (2-66) kept Vidarbha 85 runs at stumps on day 2. The day began with Gowtham bagging first Vidarbha wicket in form of Captain Faiz Fazal, who was playing cautiously for the first ten overs. Fazal went down to Gowtham soon after Vidarbha had crossed the 50-run mark in the 21st over.

Gowtham's injury could be a cause of concern for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) too. He was retained by the Rajasthan-based franchise before the auctions of IPL 2019. 

Rajasthan Royals

Bought this auction: Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Ish Sodhi, Oshane Thomas, Ashton Turner, Varun Aaron, Shubham Ranjane, Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh

Retained Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Mahipal Lomror, Sanju Samson (wk), Aryaman Birla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Prashant Chopra, S. Midhun, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Steven Smith, Shreyas Gopal, Jos Buttler (wk), Stuart Binny, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer.