CHENNAI: Even as India cruised past Netherlands to register their second win of the Women's T20 World Cup and moved to the top spot in Group A, they suffered a massive injury blow at Leeds on Wednesday. Shreyanka Patil, the off-spinning all-rounder, had to be stretchered off the field after she twisted her ankle while fielding.
Patil, coming on in the sixth over after India set a target of 210 for the Dutch, tried to stop the ball near mid-on off her own bowling. While trying to collect the ball, she twisted her ankle and was visibly in pain. Not being able to complete the over, Patil could not walk and had to be stretchered off the field in a vehicle. Shafali Verma finisher the over as Patil did not take part in the remainder of the match.
The injury brought flashbacks of Pratika Rawal's devastating ankle injury during the ODI World Cup last year which ruled the opener out of the tournament. While there is no official update as of yet, Verma confirmed that Patil has gone for scans and the medical team is monitoring her closely.
The 23-year-old made a comeback to the Indian team after a long injury lay-off and has since been consistently among wickets, delivering for India. While scan results are awaited, India would be hoping that Patil's injury is not too serious and she would recover in time for the upcoming matches. India will play South Africa next on Sunday.
Brief scores: India 209/5 in 20 ovs (Smriti 74, Shafali 55) bt Netherlands 114 in 17.3 ovs (Babette 28; Sree Charani 4/19, Shafali 3/20); Bangladesh 77/8 in 20 ovs (Nigar 27; Molineux 2/14) lost to Australia 78/1 in 9.3 ovs (Voll 45 n.o).
