With Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan ruled out of the ongoing World Cup, the BCCI has requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) permission to name wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant as replacement.
"Shikhar Dhawan has fractured the base of the metacarpal (bone) of his left hand. His hand will remain in cast till mid July which rules him out of the ICC 2019 World Cup," team's administrative manager Sunil Subramanium told reporters on Wednesday, 19 June.
"We have written to the ICC requesting Rishabh Pant as replacement," he added.
The management was forced to rule Dhawan out after he failed to make enough recovery in a fresh assessment of his thumb fracture.
The 33-year-old had picked up the injury on his left thumb during the 9 June clash against Australia in London and was initially ruled out of three games – against Pakistan (16 June), Afghanistan (22 June) and the West Indies (27 June).
Pant comes in with an accumulated ODI experience of five matches but is considered a trump card owing to his fearless approach. He was part of the official standbys list along with Ambati Rayudu. The 21-year-old was brought in as cover for Dhawan after the team management decided to wait on the senior opener's recovery but assessment of the injury this week did not throw up encouraging results.
As a consequence, the 21-year-old Pant, whose omission from the original squad had kicked up a storm given his exceptional form in the past one year, has got the big break.
Pant's addition to the side was backed by the likes of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. The former captain felt that the Delhi-lad deserved to be in if Dhawan was to be forced out given the youngster's "cracking hot form".
Pant had scored impressive hundreds during the Test tours of England and Australia. He also enjoyed a good run in the IPL last month, scoring 488 runs with a strike rate of over 160.
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