The cricket world has held their breath as Sri Lanka batsman Dimuth Karunaratne was hit in the back of the neck by a bouncer from Aussie quick Pat Cummins on the second day of second test at Canberra on Saturday, February 2.
During the final session of the day, Pat Cummins’ delivery caught the opener off guard and saw him attempt to get out of the way of the rising ball. But his attempts were in vain as the ball slammed in between his shoulder and neck guard at a thunderous 142.5 km/h.
He fell immediately to the deck where he stayed as players rushed in before trainers ran out to the pitch. The latest update on him is that he is out of danger, however, still under doctor’s observation.
“Karunaratne was shown speaking and moving his hands while the medi-cab was called to the field. Local medical support then helped the 30-year-old on to the stretcher before being carted off to the applause of crowd. Australia team doctor Richard Shaw held the batsman’s neck as he left the playing arena,” said a report on cricket.com.au.
Karunaratne had looked solid, scoring 46 runs off 84 balls with five boundaries before the incident occurred. He was earlier struck on the hand by Jhye Richardson when on 28 but continued to bat after a visit from a member of the Sri Lankan medical team.
