The Indian team will be without Shikhar Dhawan for the remainder of the World Cup 2019. Rishabh Pant, who is already in England, has been named as the replacement for the injured opening batsman
Southampton: India opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan was on Wednesday (June 19) ruled out of the remainder of the ICC World Cup 2019. Indian team manager Sunil Subramaniam announced that the left-handed batsman will not play the rest of the 10-team tournament in England and Wales.
Shikhar had sustained an injury to his left thumb during the World Cup game against Australia on June 9. He was hit by a Pat Cummins delivery. He batted through the pain barrier to score a century. He won the Man-of-the-match award for his 117 as India triumphed by 36 runs at The Oval in London.
Following several specialist opinions, he will remain in a cast until the middle of July and therefore will not be available for the remainder of
— BCCI (@BCCI)Later, he missed matches against New Zealand and Pakistan. KL Rahul opened the batting with Rohit Sharma, against Pakistan while the contest versus the Kiwis was washed out.
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“Following several specialist opinions, he will remain in a cast until the middle of July and therefore will not be available for the remainder of #CWC19,” BCCI tweeted.
Official Announcement 🚨🚨 - ruled out of the World Cup. We wish him a speedy recovery pic.twitter.com/jdmEvt52qS
— BCCI (@BCCI)“Shikhar Dhawan has been diagnosed with a fracture of the first metacarpal on his left hand following a ball impact injury during the team’s second match versus Australia at the Oval on 9th June 2019,” BCCI said in a statement.
“Following several specialist opinions, he will remain in a cast until the middle of July and therefore will not be available for the remainder of the World Cup,” it added.
Young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who is already in England as a cover for Shikhar, will now replace the opening batsman in India's 15-member squad.
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On June 12, India's assistant coach Sanjay Bangar had said they would assess Shikhar after 12 days.
"The thing is around 10 or 12 days, we'll be taking a call on the status of Shikhar. Until that point, just to make sure that if and when the replacement is required — and I'm saying if and when — then it is always good to have the replacement player coming in and practising with the team, as a standby," Bangar had said.
On Saturday (June 22), India face Afghanistan in Southampton. So far, the Virat Kohli-led team are ubeaten with three wins.
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