New Delhi: Venkatesh Iyer, while batting for Central Zone, suffered a major injury scare during a Duleep Trophy match on Friday after an aggressive and uncalled throw from West zone medium pacer Chitan Gaja ended up hitting Iyer on his neck, prompting an ambulance and stretcher to be called to the ground. Venkatesh was visibly in a lot of pain after being hit on his neck. The incident took place on Friday during Central Zone vs West Zone match at SNR College Cricket Ground at Coimbatore.
Iyer, who has also been part of India's white-ball team for some time, hit Gaja for a six and then defended the next ball back to the bower, who threw it towards Iyer, hitting him on his neck, after which the batter immediately fell to the ground.
An ambulance was called to the ground and a stretcher too, but fortunately the 27-year-old decided to walk instead of using the stretched which was a huge sigh of relief for the onlookers. Iyer came out in the middle to bat again but was dismissed for a knock of 16 runs. Ashok Maria was brought in as a substitute fielder to replace Iyer.
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Talking about the match, Central Zone won the toss and opted to bowl first. West Zone were all out for 257 runs in their first innings. Rahul Tripathi scored 67, Prithvi Shaw scored 60 and Shams Mulani scored 41 runs. Captain Ajinkya Rahane could only score eight runs. On the other hand, the Central Zone team got bundled up for 128 runs in their first innings, ending up with a lead of 129 runs.