Injury concern for Liam Livingstone after fielding incident against India

The 28-year-old allrounder left the field in pain in the 16th over after dropping a catch at midwicket off the batting of Ishan Kishan

England have suffered an injury scare ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup after Liam Livingstone left the field in pain during the latter stages of their first warm-up fixture against India on October 18.

The 28-year-old allrounder was fielding at deep midwicket in the 16th over when he dropped a catch off the bat of Ishan Kishan and appeared to damage the little finger on his left hand.

He left the field immediately afterwards and was replaced by Sam Billings.

The exact nature and severity of his injury is yet to be confirmed; England will assess the finger in the next 24 hours once the swelling has gone down.

Earlier in the day, Livingstone had scored 30 runs off just 20 balls when batting at No.5 to put forward a strong case for his selection for England’s tournament opener against West Indies on Saturday, October 23.

He also dismissed Virat Kohli for 11, finishing with figures of 1 for 10 from his two overs.

Livingstone is one of 15 players in the England squad for the T20 showpiece event, with Reece Topley, Liam Dawson and James Vince also in Dubai as travelling reserves. Should the Cumbrian’s injury rule him out of the tournament, Vince is the most likely replacement.