Sanju Samson comes out to bat with broken finger and falls to umpiring blunder

The quarter-final matches of Ranji Trophy 2018-19 are underway and of all the games, the Kerala-Gujarat match being held at Krishnagiri Stadium in Wayanad, Kerala, has been a low-scoring affair. Three innings were completed by stumps on Day 2 and a result is clearly underway in the game although it is difficult which side will have the last laugh. The hosts were bowled out for 171 in their second innings after taking a lead of 23 in the first which requires Gujarat to score 195 runs to make it to the semi-final.

The green top in Wayanad made life difficult for the batsmen from both sides after Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel won the toss and elected to bowl. Kerala were all out for 185 on Day 1 and then they reduced Gujarat to 97 for 4 at stumps. All the 13 wickets on the day fell to the seamers. However, Kerala’s worst moment on the first day came when their reputed batsman Sanju Samson broke his ring finger of the batting hand when on 17, thanks to a nasty delivery from left-arm medium-pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla who took five wickets in the game.

Sanju Samson comes out to bat with a broken finger

On Day 2, after Kerala bowled Gujarat out for 162 to gain a vital lead, they faced yet another batting debacle, losing their last five wickets for just 22 runs with their last four batters falling for no score. But the heartening thing was to see Samson coming out to bat with his injured finger for the team’s sake.

He came out at No.11 and accompanied Jalaj Saxena who remained stranded on 44 to add eight valuable runs for the final wicket. The 24-year-old was determined to hang out for more in the knock-out clash but for a wrong decision given by the umpire which cut short his stay in the middle.

Here is the video of Samson batting with one hand:

pic.twitter.com/6TmHtqxWrC

— Mushfiqur Fan (@NaaginDance) January 16, 2019

Samson was facing Gujarat’s left-arm spinner Axar Patel whose straight one was on the line to hit the stumps but the injured batsman put down his bat just in time. But naked eyes suggested that the ball had hit Samson’s pad in front of the wicket though he had a clear edge. The batsman was clearly disappointed by the umpire’s raised finger as the dismissal saw his team getting all out without too much to defend. It is now up to the home team bowlers to give their all to deny Gujarat a win.

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