Pages

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Shikhar Dhawan Ruled Out of World Cup, Rishabh Pant Named Replacement

India opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the ICC World Cup as he won't recover in time from a thumb injury sustained in the game against Australia at the Oval on June 9. Delhi wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant will replace him in the 15-man squad, team manager Sunil Subramaniam confirmed on Wednesday June 19

Shikhar Dhawan picked up the injury on his left thumb and was initially ruled out of three games - against Pakistan (June 16), Afghanistan (June 22) and the West Indies (June 27).

It is learnt that the Delhi opener, who played through pain to score a hundred against Australia, 'has no chance' of recovering in time for the June 30 World Cup game against England.

"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 first match versus Australia at the Oval on 5th June 2019. 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," the BCCI tweeted on Wednesday (June 19).

"We have written to the ICC requesting Rishabh Pant as replacement," team manager Subramaniam informed the media in Southampton

Pant was brought in as cover for him after the team management decided to wait on Dhawan's recovery but assessment of the injury this week did no throw up encouraging results. His addition to the side was backed by the likes of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar felt the Delhi-lad deserved to be in if Dhawan was to be forced out owing to his "cracking hot form"

What may have prompted the team management to make a final decision on Dhawan's injury was the fact that even fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar is injured.

India would have had only 13 players to select from in the Afghanistan game on June 22 if Pant was not brought in as a replacement. Bhuvneshwar is out of three matches with a hamstring niggle.

"Bhuvneshwar is being assessed by team physio Patrick Farhart," team's trainer Shankar Basu told the media in Southampton.

Earlier, India's assistant coach Sanjay Bangar had said before the washedout game against New Zealand in Manchester that the team management did not want to rule out Dhawan and wanted to observe his progress.

"We will take at least 10-12 days to take a call on Shikhar's condition. We don't want to rule out a precious player like him," Bangar had told the media at Trent Bridge in Nottingham last week.

Dhawan is one of India's top performers in ICC tournaments with six ODI hundreds in these events - 3 in Champions Trophy and 3 in World Cup. Along with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Dhawan formed a formidable top-3 in this format.

Young Pant was disappointed not to be picked in the final 15 of the World Cup as the selection committee led by MSK Prasad decided to pick Dinesh Karthik as the backup wicket-keeper to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Pant, who played for Delhi Capitals, shifted his focus to IPL-12 and managed to score 488 runs in 16 games at a strike-rate of 162 with three half-centuries

No comments:

Post a Comment