By IANS
Kolkata : Team India continued to wilt under crisis as skipper Rahul Dravid Saturday ended up bloody-nosed after a bouncer from R.P. Singh hit his face during the conditioning camp at the Eden Gardens here.
A short-pitched delivery from medium pacer R.P. Singh jabbed into the cage of Dravid's helmet and hit his nose during the morning practice session. The 34-year-old cricketer almost collapsed on the ground in pain and was seen leaving the field covering his face with a towel.
Dravid was given sedatives and sent to hotel room for rest. The team's administrative manager Surendra Bhave described the wound as a "nose trauma".
"His injury is not too serious but he bled from the nose. He has been advised rest by ENT expert Debasish Sanyal whom we called to attend him," Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Prasun Mukherjee told IANS.
"He was hit on the helmet grill and the ball grazed his nose. There was no cut but he bled profusely," said an Indian team official.
Saturday was the last day of the five-day conditioning camp of Team India to warm up for the series against Bangladesh, which begins Thursday.
India, after their humiliating first round exit from the World Cup in the Caribbeans, would play a three-match one-day series against Bangladesh followed by two Test matches.
The training camp, however, began Wednesday on a unhappy note. Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar sustained injury in his right ankle during practice session on the first day of the camp. Hyderabad batsman V.V.S. Laxman also did not report due to gastroenteritis and Wasim Jaffer too apparently hurt his left hand during batting at the nets.
Rookie keeper Dinesh Kaarthik also remained absent as he was getting married back home.
The entire conditioning camp was being conducted under the hawk's eyes of newly hired team manager Ravi Shastri but the series of unfortunate incidents that began after the World Cup debacle continued to jinx the team.
With senior members like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly rested from the ODI side the absence of Dravid might spell more troubles for the team, which would leave for Dhaka Monday morning.