India suffer Kohli injury scare on day I in Ranchi

India were dealt a serious injury scare on Thursday when captain Virat Kohli walked off the field after injuring his right shoulder while fielding in the post-lunch session on the opening day of the third Test against Australia, here on Thursday.

Trying to save a boundary at deep midwicket in the 40th over, Kohli landed heavily on his right shoulder on the fast and hard outfield of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association International Stadium Complex.

Such was the impact that he had difficulty in standing up and was seen grimacing in pain, clutching his right shoulder.

The Indian team physio Patrick Farhart rushed on to the field and escorted the skipper off. Kohli was seen applying ice pack immediately on to his right shoulder and it was on for a considerable period of time. Kohli did not take the field even after tea with vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane doing the captain's job.

The Indian team's fielding coach R Sridhar revealed that Kohli will undergo scans to determine his fitness for the rest of the match.

"Virat Kohli's injury, the exact status of it will be known by tomorrow (Friday) morning," Sridhar said in the post-match press conference.

"He's going to undergo some scans later today (Thursday) and we'll know the exact status of it tomorrow (Friday) morning and what happened today (Thursday) is that we took a precaution to make sure he doesn't aggravate that injury."

Commenting on the technique of the dive, Sridhar said: "As far as the technique of the dive is concerned I think it was quite an intense chase to the boundary line and in his intent to save that one run he stopped the ball and landed on his right shoulder when he rolled over.

"The impact was quite heavy because of the momentum he was carrying and so there was a shock on his right shoulder. That is the current status," he added.

Kohli, who has been in breathtaking form right through India's packed home season, has been off-colour in the ongoing four-Test series against Australia, managing just 40 runs in four innings so far.

According to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rules, if a player is absent from the field for longer than eight minutes, the player, "shall not be permitted to bat unless or until, in the aggregate, he has returned to the field and/or his side's innings has been in progress for at least that length of playing time for which he has been absent or, if earlier, when his side has lost five wickets."

It will be interesting to see if the umpires allow Kohli to bat at his regular position if India manage to bowl Australia out cheaply on Friday.