A groin strain prevented India pacer Navdeep Saini from giving his best in the Brisbane Test but fearing that he may not get such a big a stage again, he stood up for his team and ended up bowling five overs despite injury.
The 28-year-old, who finally made his Test debut in the Australia series after years of wait, said he risked aggravating his injury by bowling in the second innings but given what was at stake, “it was a no brainer”.
“Ajinkya bhaiya asked me if I would be able to bowl with the injury, I just had to say yes,” Saini, who was in the middle when Rishabh Pant hit the winning runs at the Gabba, told PTI.
Having taken four wickets in his debut game at Sydney, Saini suffered a groin strain in Australia’s first innings and could bowl only 7.5 overs at the Gabba, increasing concerns for an already injury-hit India, who were forced to go into the game with a bowling attack which had the combined experience of four games.
For someone who made a massive leap…