[1]For 11-year-old Tia Bhatia, Tuesday night will remain etched in her memory for ever. Or should that be her nose!!
Caught up in the exciting game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors and enjoying her idol Chris Gayle’s big hits, Tia, watching the match from the J-Corporate stand at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium with her father Vivek Bhatia, was felled by a monster hit from the West Indian, off Rahul Sharma.
The fourth of his five sixes in a single over hit Tia flush on her nose and left her bleeding profusely. At 11 pm on Tuesday night, Tia, a Class V student of Vidyashilp Academy, Yelahanka was rushed to Mallya hospital for treatment and she underwent plastic surgery for a nasal fracture on Wednesday morning.
A concerned Gayle visited Tia at the hospital soon after the match was over, along with team director Sidhartha Mallya. The West Indian, all of six feet four inches tall, gifted his medal for most sixes in the match to the elfin eleven year old and apologised for the unfortunate incident. The brave little cricket enthusiast was over the moon despite the obvious discomfort and told Gayle to continue what he loves doing most — hit big sixes!!
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/18gaylejpgcropdisplayjpg-074