Nottingham: In-form senior India opener Shikhar Dhawan was Tuesday ruled out of at least two World Cup matches after his left thumb was found to have a hairline fracture. It definitely is a major blow to India who are one of the major title-contenders.
The Indian team management was tight-lipped on a possible replacement, which may not even be called if the hairline fracture heals within two weeks. Sources however, said that at the moment there are no plans to call up any replacement.
Dhawan will, however, miss the game Thursday against New Zealand and the marquee clash Sunday against Pakistan, a BCCI source told PTI. It remains to be seen if he regains fitness for the match against Afghanistan June 22.
Dhawan had played through pain against Australia after being hit on the thumb by Nathan Coulter-Nile to score a memorable ton. He did not field and scans Tuesday revealed he had suffered a hairline fracture.
Dhawan along with physio Patrick Farhart, are currently in Leeds for consultation with specialists, an hour’s drive from Manchester.
Since India play Afghanistan, June 22 in Southampton, the left-handed opener will get at least 11 days time to recover. Even if Dhawan misses that game, the next match is June 27 against the West Indies in Manchester which gives Dhawan another six days’ time to recover. Hence the team management is not too keen on a replacement.
The team think tank is thinking about taking a chance which will allow Dhawan to recover for the last two league games (against Bangladesh, July 2 and Sri Lanka, July 6) before gearing for the semifinals where India are certain to feature.
The Indian team has KL Rahul, a specialist opener who can join Rohit Sharma at the top of the order. In that case, one among Vijay Shankar or Dinesh Karthik will come in the middle-order for the next two games.
Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu are on BCCI’s official stand-by list but Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer’s name is also doing the rounds as he is a specialist No.4 batsman.
Agencies