SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom, June 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – India opener
Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup with a
fractured finger, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced
Wednesday.
The in-form batsman suffered the break while facing Australia’s Pat
Cummins in India’s second match of the tournament at the Oval on June 9.
Dhawan carried on batting and scored a century to earn the man-of-the-
match award as India beat the reigning champions by 36 runs.
But the 33-year-old left-hander did not field and has not featured in the
World Cup since his century at Surrey’s headquarters in south London.
Rishabh Pant, a dynamic batsman and wicketkeeper, is set to replace Dhawan
in India’s squad ahead of their match against Afghanistan at Southampton on
Saturday.
“Shikhar has a fracture at the base of his first metacarpal on his left
hand,” team manager Sunil Subramanian told reporters in Southampton.
“Following several specialist opinions, he will remain in a cast until
mid-July, which rules him out of the ICC World Cup 2019.”
India, who will still require the formal approval of the World Cup event
technical committee before calling up the 21-year-old Pant into their
tournament squad, summoned the dynamic left-hander last week as concerns
mounted over Dhawan’s fitness.
“He (Pant) bats in the middle order and obviously being a left-hander
helps and he was named in the standbys as well, so the team management has
gone and picked him,” said India assistant coach Sanjay Bangar last week.