Hardik Pandya issued a heartfelt apology to his Mumbai Indians (MI) team-mate Ishan Kishan after a throw by him hit the young keeper-batsman in the eye during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Tuesday.
Kishan was taken off the field after a long throw from Pandya hit him flush on the eye and knocked him to the floor. The 19-year-old was taken off the field immediately and Aditya Tare took the gloves for the rest of the match.
Speaking at the end of the game Rohit Sharma said, “Unfortunate, I have not checked on him because I came here right after the presentation got over. He seems all right, he has got a little swelling in his eyes, which should be ok by tomorrow/ day after, we have got few days before we play the next match on 22nd, we have got 3-4 days, where we will assess and hopefully he will be fine.”
On Wednesday, Pandya took to Twitter and shared a picture of himself with a much better looking Kishan, and wrote, “Mera cutie pie, Sorry bhai! Stay strong.”
Mera cutie pie 🤕
Sorry bhai! Stay strong, @ishankishan23. pic.twitter.com/CeN6pF9Xkt— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) April 18, 2018
Under the new rules, Mumbai Indians were allowed to use the services of Aditya Tare – substitute player – as Ishan Kishan was out of the match due to injury.
Tare coming in place of Kishan was only possible as per the new rules of ICC, which came into effect from October 1, 2017. Earlier, a substitute fielder was allowed to replace any fielder on the field but not the wicket-keeper.
In the end, the slight stoppage couldn’t impact the game as MI went on to win the match by 46 runs against RCB and post their first points in the ongoing IPL season.
