Ishant picks up freak injury during fun football

Ishant injured himself during a football match which Team India played at Windsor Park Monday evening.

The visitors -- who refrained from bowling, batting and fielding session -- came over to the venue of the third and final Test rather late and restricted themselves to a session of fun football between themselves.

However, it stunned everyone when Praveen Kumar jumped in the air and accidentally head-butted the left cheekbone of Ishant.

The impact was so hard that Ishant lay flat on his back for a good two minutes, causing a panic in the Indian ranks.

The physio and masseur of the team rushed from the dressing room and lifted Ishant, escorting him out of the ground.

Ishant seemed to have a deep blood clot on his left cheekbone, probably a little cut as well, but team sources later allayed the fears that the injury might cost him the final Test.

"It`s a small bruise, a small cut underneath his eye. But I have been told it`s not serious," Rahul Dravid was to say later on.

Ishant has so far picked up 16 wickets from the series, including a 10-wicket haul in the Barbados Test, with an average of 13.62.