England opener Alex Hales to undergo scans

After dealing with two painful losses, the touring England side has faced another major blow, as Alex Hales is set to have an X-ray on the little finger of his right hand after attempting a catch during yesterday’s 2nd ODI against India at Cuttack. Hales’ arm is currently in a sling after attempting a possible half chance during the Indian innings. Sam Billings could be the possible replacement if Alex Hales gets ruled out of the final encounter.

Alex Hales missed out on scoring big with the bat as he was dismissed for 14 during yesterday’s game. For England, it was captain Eoin Morgan who scored a gutsy century to take his team close to the daunting chase. England fell short by 15 runs in the end.

The England cricket team found themselves at the receiving end after the day was dominated by old school duo MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, as both the batsmen scored respective centuries to post a daunting 381/6 in 50 overs against England, in front of a packed Cuttack crowd.

While Dhoni (134 runs off 122 balls) was at his usual self,  landing biggies off the hapless England bowling attack. Yuvraj found his vintage touch, scoring his career-best 150 in quick time. Dhoni also crossed the landmark of 4000 ODI runs in India (only second to Sachin Tendulkar’s 6976 runs). This was Yuvraj’s 14th ODI century and his first after the eventful 2011 world cup final. MS Dhoni too enjoyed the outing, as his 10th century is also his first one post his announcement of stepping down from the captaincy of the limited overs side.

Both the teams will now head to the city of joy, Kolkata for the last and final ODI game of the series. Yuvraj Singh was elected the man of the match for his match-winning career-best ODI score. England had earlier lost the Test series under the captaincy of Alastair Cook, as Virat’s men pulled off an emphatic show in front of the home crowd.

Alex Hales is to have an X-ray on the little finger of his right hand after attempting a catch yesterday.

His arm is currently in a sling pic.twitter.com/UJW5JeBQkN

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) January 20, 2017