India's Test opener Mayank Agarwal was named as the replacement for Shikhar Dhawan for the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies after the senior batsman failed to recover from his knee injury.
“Dhawan had suffered a deep cut on his left knee during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Maharashtra in Surat and was ruled out of the ongoing T20I series,” said a BCCI release.
“The BCCI medical team feels that while Dhawan’s stitches are off and his wound is healing gradually, he still needs some more time before he regains full match fitness.”BCCI statement
India will play three ODIs against the West Indies in Chennai (December 15), Visakhapatnam (December 18) and Cuttack (December 22).
Earlier, wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson had replaced Dhawan in the T20 international squad before the three-match series against West Indies.
Mayank, who is currently playing Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu in Dindigul, will join the national team in Chennai before the first game.
However, with in-form KL Rahul also in the ODI side to partner vice-captain Rohit Sharma, Mayank may have to wait for his white-ball debut unless someone gets injured.
Agarwal had earlier come in as a late replacement for injured Vijay Shankar during the ODI World Cup in England but he didn't get any game time.
The 28-year-old Bengaluru man has been a revelation in the Test arena with 872 runs in 9 Tests matches including three centuries and three half-centuries at an average of over 67.
Meanwhile, the break could be a blessing in disguise for Dhawan as he will get a chance to get back to domestic cricket and find some form which has eluded him for the last few months.
Dhawan had a prolonged bad patch since the start of India's away series against the West Indies after he had to comeback from World Cup due to thumb fracture.
India's Squad for 3 ODIs
Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
(With inputs from IANS & PTI)
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