Indian young wicket keeper Rishabh Pant was brought in as cover for the injured Shikhar Dhawan in India World Cup Squad on Wednesday.
Rishabh Pant will reach England a day before India game against New Zealand and he won’t be considered as a replacement for Dhawan till the team management takes a final call on Shikhar Dhawan’s availability for the rest of the tournament.
Rishabh Pant, aged 21 is one of the most exciting players to have emerged in Indian Cricket and impressed the cricket fans with Test hundreds during England and Australia tours earlier and is in good form during IPL last month.
Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of three matches due to a hairline fracture on his left thumb in the match against Australia where he scored a match winning century on Sunday.
The Indian team released a statement that reads: “Dhawan is presently under the observation of the BCCI medical team. The team management has decided that Dhawan will continue to be in England and his progress will be monitored”.
“Dhawan sustained an injury on the back of his left hand in the region between the index finger and thumb,” it added.
The selectors worked out that Lokesh Rahul can play Dhawan’s role if he fails to recover, so they chose Rishabh Pant, a middle order batsman as cover.
KL Rahul was originally taken as the third opener in the squad but he was later changed to number 4 in the last minute.
Shikhar Dhawan is India’s only left hand batsman and he hit century against Australia in the last match. Left handers have an upper edge over leg spinners, so Pant has been chosen to play in the middle order of India’s batting line-up.
Indian chose to retain Dhawan and monitor his recovery rather than announcing a replacement for him. Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the coming two matches of India scheduled to play later this week against New Zealand on Thursday at Trent Bridge and against Pakistan on Sunday at Old Trafford.
Dhawan may also sit out for the Afghanistan match on June 22 in Southampton and against West Indies on June 27 in Manchester.