Team India's on-field problems are on one side, injuries have piled up match after match for the visitors in the ongoing four-match Test series against Australia.
After Ishant Sharma was ruled out even before the start of the series, India's injury count has gone up since. While Mohammed Shami suffered a hand injury in the first Test at Adelaide, Umesh Yadav injured his calf during the second Test at the MCG.
Batsman KL Rahul was injured during the nets as he took a blow on his left wrist before the Sydney Test. But the SCG Test proved to be the box-office for many reason apart from injuries.
While India's fightback and racial abuse took the headlines, India's injuries didn't fall far behind as they continued to take place one after the other. After wicket-keeper batsman took a blow on his elbow, Ravindra Jadeja took the same on his left thumb and ended up dislocating it. While, Pant recovered from it and played one of his best Test knocks in the second innings of the game.
This wasn't all. Hanuma Vihari suffered a Grade 2 tear in his hamstring and has also been ruled out of the Brisbane Test. Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin tweaked his back and his availability will depend upon how he holds up in the next couple of days and will be evident after the scans. Batsman Mayank Agarwal also received a blow on his arm and his scan reports are awaited.
But, the decisive blow came Monday morning after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the fourth Test due to an abdominal strain. With Virat Kohli not available and the number of injuries rising per day, India's number of fit and available players for the Gabba game are reducing as the minute-hand takes a round.
This gave Twitterati and netizens to rough up their mathematics and count the number of fit players. While most of the users after the updated injury list were delighted with a potential debut of left-arm pacer T Natarajan, various users came up with some of the most hilarious and witty responses.
Many suggested that the coach Ravi Shastri might have to take the field along with batting coach Vikram Rathour, many users gave hilarious references from films like 'Welcome' and much loved show 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah', while expressing their frustration at the increasing number of injuries. Some of the users even suggested that Team India should pack their bags and return home due to inability of fielding 11 players on the field if the injuries were to rise again.
Here are some of the reactions:
Bumrah ka. Vihari ka. Jaddu ka. Sabka badla lega re tera Natarajan.#GabbaTest pic.twitter.com/0JFYAL3yVo
— Aniruddha Guha (@AniGuha) January 12, 2021
Bumrah also ruled out???
Kya karein....Test match Na khelein?? #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/XSDJNXX9m4
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 12, 2021
J Bhumra ruled out from Brisbane test Le indian fans - #Natarajan pic.twitter.com/e76ThjpZRb
— Shubham Shrivastava (@Shubham00778642) January 12, 2021
Winning combination for 4th Test in consultation with R Kaushik Rohit, Gill, Pujara, Rahane, Pant, Agarwal, Saha (wk), Ashwin/Kuldeep , Shardul, Saini, Siraj ( Provided Ashwin is fit) If more injuries then Shastri & Rathour pick themselves
— Vijay Lokapally (@vijaylokapally) January 12, 2021
I hope it doesn't come to this at The Gabba. pic.twitter.com/OQzU2k5SJv
— Abhishek Mukherjee (@ovshake42) January 12, 2021
Thank god it's 4 match series only.. Otherwise in 5th match, Indian Playing XI be like:
Ravi Shastri Gavaskar Sanjay Manjrekar Pujara Gill Rahane Vikram Rathore Bharat Arun Shardul Saini Siraj#brisbanetest
— Lalit_011 (@HingweLalit) January 12, 2021
indias playing 11 in Brisbane test #brisbanetest pic.twitter.com/eVuNcCjjwz
— (@Brahmin_boy420) January 12, 2021
Now that Bumrah's also injured pic.twitter.com/041JG3MOk1
— Nihaar Sabhlok (@NSabhlok) January 12, 2021
After the long injury list of Indian players : Md. Shami, Ishant sharma, Bhuvi, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Jaddu & Vihari….
Now, Jasprit bumrah is also out of the next test and Mayank is little bit injred too...
Le Indian fans rn : pic.twitter.com/otNc50W2sp
— Abhishek Chaudhary(@Abhi_11__) January 12, 2021
Bumrah last test se bahar** #INDvAUS
Tim paine and gang:- pic.twitter.com/FnUe7OhQ45
— Kritika (@chal_chal_away) January 12, 2021
Bumrah too out of final test due to an injury. Le Indian team: #Bumrah #AUSvsIND pic.twitter.com/sRMSl4RDkP
— Aniket Pathak (@StoneSoupWager) January 12, 2021
Mayank, Bumrah, Vihari, Jadeja(injured), Ashwin(doubtful)!
Me RN : pic.twitter.com/kKEvi0Upsc
— harryssstuff (@harryssstuff) January 12, 2021
Ajinkya Rahane Selecting Players for Brisbane Test pic.twitter.com/waNjqNBOka
— (@ZindaaLash) January 12, 2021
The rate at which #TeamIndia’s injury list is growing, we might just have to...#AUSvIND #JaspritBumrah pic.twitter.com/M6yVup6b2h
— Tanay Tiwari (@Tanay_Tiwari) January 12, 2021