London: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday (June 19) confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC World Cup 2019 has approved Rishabh Pant as a replacement player for Shikhar Dhawan in India’s squad for the remainder of the tournament.

Opener Dhawan, who suffered a thumb injury during the league match against Australia, on Wednesday, was ruled out of further participation in the event.

Also read: Shikhar Dhawan's World Cup over

Shikhar had sustained an injury to his left thumb 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.

“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.

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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 the World Cup,” it added.

Pant was already in England as a cover for the injured Dhawan. Now, he gets feature in his first World Cup.

With the young stumper’s inclusion, India have three specialist wicketkeepers in MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Pant.

Also read: Full schedule of India matches at World Cup with start times, live TV, streaming info

The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical Committee of the ICC World Cup 2019 consists of Geoff Allardice (ICC, ETC chairman), Campbell Jamieson (ICC representative), Steve Elworthy (CWC representative), Alan Fordham (host representative), Harsha Bhogle and Kumar Sangakkara (both independent representatives).

On Saturday (June 22), India face Afghanistan. So far, the Virat Kohli-led side have won three matches, against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. The game against New Zealand was washed out.