India batters like to bat against the dog-thrower because of the extreme pace it generates, which prepares them to face high pace out in the middle. They give credit to these throwdowns for having improved their reaction times against high pace. However, this particular ball just nipped back in and hit Rohit on the right forearm.

It looked like a nasty blow from how Rohit first reacted. He looked in pain, and received immediate medical attention. After about five minutes or so, he gloved up again to see how the hand is feeling, but played just one ball and walked off.

On the sidelines, Rohit sat with a big icepack on his arm. Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton had a long chat with him. D Raghavendra, the throwdown specialist, looked distraught. However about 45 minutes or so later, Rohit went back into the nets. He started off carefully, just defending a few easy throwdowns to get the sensation back in the arm, and then went on to bat normally. Even against Raghavendra's throwdowns.

At the end of the session, Rohit had a chat with Raghavendra, which seemed to put the support staff member at ease. With one more training session before the semi-final against England, the cause for concern around Rohit is low.

However, if India do go for Pant, they might have to push Hardik Pandya down the order to No. 6 because Karthik is the only specialist batter India have who can just walk in and score quickly. Pandya used to do that job for Mumbai Indians earlier, but this year he has been playing more like a long-innings middle-order batter who likes to get in before starting hitting.

Also in the semi-final, India might come against an offspinner as well in Moeen Ali. That tips the scales in favour of Karthik a little. India's team management did say that Pant playing the last match didn't mean Karthik was out of favour. His having a long hit might suggest he is very much in the picture for England.