The left-arm pacer had to undergo surgery for what is now revealed to be a career-threatening injury to his arm after a successful IPL 2022 last summer.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) seamer Mohsin Khan revealed a shocking backstory behind his persistent injury struggles after emerging as an unlikely hero for his team in their win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2023 on Tuesday (May 16) night.
Khan, who successfully managed to defend 11 runs required in the last over against MI’s esteemed powerhitting men Cameron Green and Tim David despite not yet 100% fit on his comeback, disclosed facing such medical strain that at one stage he feared he may have to lose his hand.
The 24-year-old went down with a career-threatening injury to his arm after a breakthrough maiden IPL stint with the Lucknow franchise last season and subsequently missed cricket for the majority of the year, going through a lengthy rehabilitation process after his surgery.
Enjoying the high of bagging 14 scalps in his nine outings of IPL 2022 at less than 6 an over, the left-arm quick suffered a major blip off the field as he suffered a shoulder injury soon after the season that derailed his parade at a time when prominent experts and fans were calling for the UP seamer’s introduction in the senior Indian T20I set-up.
But the shoulder injury that Mohsin Khan went down with wasn’t like any other issue with his adjoint. The injury was related to the nerves in his arm as the cricketer also dealt with a blocked artery and was left in excruciating pain, with surgery being the only option to completely heal from the problem.
The pacer has revealed that the surgery was a difficult but mandatory choice to such an extent that if he had delayed it even by one month, medical professionals looking after him may have had to “amputate my arm”.
“Regarding my injury, I would like to say that, I hope no other cricketer suffers from it,” Mohsin said in the post-match press conference. “This was a different sort of injury as my artery was completely blocked. The nerves in my arm had got completely blocked. The association, Rajeev Shukla sir, Gautam Gambhir sir, the LSG franchise, Sanjiv [Goenka] sir, my family, they all backed and supported me a lot.”
“They never let me feel that I was going through such a thing. But, before and after my surgery, I struggled a lot and it was a tough time for me. At one point of time, I had lost hope of playing cricket as I couldn’t even lift my hand. It wasn’t even getting fully straight.”
“It was a medical related thing. I still get scared thinking about it. The doctor told me that if I was late by one month, they might have had to amputate my arm,” added the unfortunate seamer, who could easily have made his T20I debut last season when India regularly picked alternate squads if not for his injury.
Also Read – ‘Did it for my father’ – Fans applaud Mohsin Khan as he dedicates match-winning performance to his father
Thankfully, the pacer’s injury was identified and put through the surgical procedure on time. The UP seamer’s exciting return in Lucknow colours is not only a good news for the franchise but also for the senior India team as he re-enters contention for a T20I call-up and potentially even the ODI format, where India have long searched for a successful left-arm quick of their own.
