Left-arm spinner Kuhnemann had to leave the ground after he was misfielded a ball and was hit on the right thumb by a straight drive from Matthew Wade. There was only one ball left in his spell, but Marnus Labuschagne had to bowl that, and Tim David dispatched it to the fence (the batters had run off the misfield).

Injury comes days ahead of Sri Lanka trip

The extent of Kuhnemann’s injury remains unknown. If serious, he may miss Australia’s upcoming two-match Test series on their tour of Sri Lanka. Till date, he has played only three Tests, all on the 2022-23 tour of India where the pitches assisted his brand of bowling. His nine wickets, including 5-16 on the first morning at Indore, came at 31.11.

There had been little chance of an immediate comeback for Kuhnemann unless Australia fielded three spinners. When Nathan Lyon was injured during the 2023 Ashes, Australia picked off-spinner Todd Murphy in the XI ahead of Kuhnemann, presumably third on the pecking order. He was, however, likely to play in Sri Lanka.

As for the match, the Hurricanes needed to score 20 in two overs after Kuhnemann (3.5-0-33-0) and Labuschagne shared the 18th over. Spencer Johnson conceded nine in the next over and dismissed David, but 10 came off the first five balls of the final over, bowled by Xavier Bartlett. With a solitary run to score, Wade swung the last ball for six.

Earlier, Labuschagne (77 in 42 balls), Matt Renshaw (40 in 25), and Tom Alsop (39 in 27) had helped the Heat post 201-6 after Marcus Bean struck with his first legal ball in professional cricket. The Hurricanes chase – amidst a fire that stopped play – was led by Caleb Jewell (76 in 49), Mitchell Owen (44 in 20), and Nikhil Chaudhary (39 in 27).

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