India head coach Graham Reid refused to reveal the true extent of Hardik Singh’s injury, choosing to keep it under wraps despite several questions revolving around the midfielder’s right hamstring.
Hardik was seen clutching his hamstring right at the end of the game against England in Rourkela on Sunday and even underwent an MRI scan in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. While the team management hasn’t said anything officially about Hardik’s status, it is believed that he may miss the Wales match on Wednesday.
When asked about Hardik’s availability, a cheeky Reid said “We will decide tomorrow. Watch the space!”
When another reporter tried his luck again, Reid yet again remained non-committal. “I think I may have mentioned it straight after that the prognosis did not look good at that point. That was just me saying it knowing the history behind such an injury. The MRI was much better than we had hoped. It gives us and him a little bit of hope of playing again in the tournament. I’m not going to reveal any of the information the MRI says. It’s certainly better than what he hoped for.”
India can officially ask world body FIH for a replacement if they feel Hardik’s injury is serious and unfit to carry on participating but once it’s done, it’s final and binding. They can’t recall him. A reporter tried that route too in a bid to extract the truth but an alert Reid deflected that also nicely.
“We will decide that tomorrow. Nice try though!” gushed Reid. “We have Rajkumar (Pal) and Jugraj (Singh) as reserve players. We have options.”
(Published 18 January 2023, 17:35 IST)
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