Ishant suffering from back stiffness

Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who could only bowl four overs in the third ODI against Sri Lanka, is suffering from back stiffness, informed his pace colleague Umesh Yadav.

Ishant, who returned with impressive figures of four for 34 in India's first win in the five-match series in Cuttack, came in as first change at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal but went off the field very early in the innings as Stuart Binny substituted for him.

In the post-match conference, Umesh said that the team management will only take a call on Ishant's fitness when they get a clear picture.

"We have no news about Ishant right now. He had a bit of back stiffness. But we can't really talk about it right now and will only be able to tell once the report comes," said Umesh.

Ishant bowled a maiden in his four-over spell, giving away just 14 runs but could not carry on after that.

Umesh (4/53) and company though carried on the good work as India thrashed Sri Lanka by six wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

Image: Ishant Sharma

Photograph: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images