Today Australian batsman Phil Hughes is reportedly
in a state of induced coma after being struck on his head during a Sheffield
Game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The 25-year-old cricketer - wearing a helmet
- attempted to hook a rising fast delivery from Sean Abbott but was hit on the
side of his head instead. He stood on the pitch for a few moments before
collapsing face first on the ground. Michael Clarke went to the hospital in a
show of support for Hughes' family. His teammates and Coach stated that their
thoughts and prayers were with Hughes.
Cricket Australia, in a statement, stated that Team India had also
conveyed support for Hughes.
As one could recall, only
recently, Ahmed Shehzad, the Pak opener was hit on the helmet by a bouncer by
Corey Anderson on the 2nd day of 1st Test against NZ at Abu dhabi – he was
diagnosed with a minor skull fracture. The injury caused Shehzad so much pain
that he dropped his bat on to the stumps as he wheeled away and collapsed to
the ground. He was dismissed hit wicket, after scoring a career-best 176, and
walked off the field holding his jaw.
Indians cannot forget how Clive Lloyd unleashed a torrent of fast,
dangerous, short-pitched bowling on India, sent half their top-order to the
hospital and caused captain Bishan Singh Bedi to 'surrender' the match. In that Series, after a hammering in the Barbados Test, Bedi’s men
bounced back hard in the next two matches in Port of Spain. Gavaskar made 156
in the drawn second Test, giving India a 161-run lead. With their confidence
high, India created history in the third Test chasing a historic 403 thanks to
hundreds from Gavaskar and Viswanath and Mohinder’s 85. In that Jamaica Test, as Gavaskar describes
– the Indian dressing room resembled ‘wounded soldiers’ room’. Gaekwad remained unattended for a while as
manager Umrigar had accompanied Vishwanath.
When Anshuman was transported, Brijesh Patel too accompanied with a
mouth injury. Gavaskar called it
'Barbarism in Kingston'. First innings
had to be declared at 306/6 ; in the 2nd Mohinder hit all over the body made 60 – Indian innings ended
at 97 with Kirmani not out and 5 batsmen (Gaekwad, Vishwanath, Patel, Bedi and
Chandrasekhar – absent hurt) – actually it was not a declaration but surrender.
At Chepauk in an isolated
incident in Jan 1979 Herbert Chang, of Chinese origin, played his lonely test at
Chepauk and was left bleeding in the
mouth by a Karsan Ghavri bouncer.
Sadly, Raman Lamba playing club cricket at Dhaka was hit on the forehead by a full blooded
pull by Mehrab Hossain off left arm spinner Saifullah Khan while fielding at
forward short leg, without a helmet. He
suffered an internal hemorrhage and slipped into coma, eventually died after 3
days.
Perhaps what Contractor or
Lamba were not fortunate enough - with three ambulances and a medical helicopter
on standby for the match, Hughes was treated on the field immediately and was then
taken to the boundary for further aid. He was then transferred to a St.
Vincent's Hospital nearby. "He arrived in a critical condition and remains
in a critical condition," a hospital spokesperson is quoted as
saying. It is said that Hughes arrived
in the hospital in a ventilated state. With the Test series against India
coming up, Hughes was expecting a Test call to replace an injured Michael
Clarke. He was in good form and had hit 63 for South Australia against New
South Wales before misjudging the bouncer. Play was suspended for the day as
fellow Australian and other international cricketers tweeted their best wishes
for the batsman.
Sean Abbot is a promising
allrounder, who debuted for New South Wales at the age of 18. A wicket-taking medium-fast bowler who also
strikes the ball cleanly with the bat, Abbott was rewarded with a call-up to
Australia's one-day and Twenty20 squads to play Pakistan in the UAE in 2014. Now after today’s incident, Questions immediately arose as to how Hughes
had been hurt given that he was wearing a helmet at the time, and whether the
quality of helmet was good enough but
the videos of the incident reveals that the ball just missed the side of it,
causing a serious impact the lower-left side of his head.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar 25th Nov. 2014.
