CAPE TOWN, March 5: India suffered a scare on Wednesday when opening batsman Virender Sehwag was taken to hospital with a finger injury.

X-rays, however, showed there was no fracture.

Sehwag grimaced in pain after misjudging a high catch hit for him by coach John Wright. Captain Saurav Ganguly immediately shouted out for the team physio before Sehwag was led away.

Team media manager Amrit Mathur said: “There is no fracture. X-rays have shown there is no break. He should be fine but right now he is very stiff and sore.

“We will assess the injury on Thursday to see if he can play against Kenya.”

India play Kenya in their first match of the World Cup Super Six on Friday at Cape Town. They go into the second round with eight points, four behind Australia and two behind the Kenyans.

The 24-year-old Sehwag is an explosive right-hander used by India to launch their one-day innings. He has modelled his game on world number one batsman and team mate Sachin Tendulkar to such an extent that the pair can be hard to tell apart.

Sehwag has yet to find his best form at the World Cup, averaging 19 in six innings, although his strike rate has been an impressive 96.61, almost a run a ball.

In a highly charged group game against arch-rivals Pakistan he scored 21 off 14 balls, putting on 53 for the opening wicket with Tendulkar off 5.4 overs.—Reuters