According to media reports, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out for three weeks due to the thumb injury he picked up while batting against Australia on Sunday.
Dhawan underwent scans earlier today to determine the extent of the injury on his swollen left thumb.
The left handed batsman played through pain after being hit on the thumb by a rising delivery from pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile and continued onto score 117 off 109 balls. He however did not field at all during Australia’s innings.
Scans on Tuesday, 11 June, have reportedly shown that Dhawan has fractured his thumb with the physio deciding to rule him out for the next three weeks. The team management was tight-lipped on a possible replacement, which may not even be called if the hairline fracture heals within two weeks.
Dhawan will, however, miss the game against New Zealand on 13 June and the marquee clash against Pakistan on 16 June, a BCCI source said.
He played through pain after being hit on his left thumb by a rising delivery from pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile. He didn’t take the field due to the injury during the clash.
Ravindra Jadeja fielded in his place for the entire 50 overs. He underwent scans in which the fracture came to light.
Dhawan along with physio Patrick Farhart, are currently in Leeds for consultation with specialists, an hour's drive from Manchester.
The team management and the selectors will decide if a replacement needs to be summoned as they are hoping for his complete recovery for the business end of the tournament.
Since India play Afghanistan on 22 June in Southampton, which is six days after the Pakistan game in Manchester, Dhawan will get at least 11 days time to recover.
Even if Dhawan misses the Afghanistan game, the next match against West Indies in Manchester is on 27 June , which gives him another six days' time to recover.
The team management is thinking about taking a chance that will allow him to recover for the last two league games (against Bangladesh on 2 July and Sri Lanka on 6 July ) before gearing for a semi-final where India are certain to feature.
It has been learnt that the tem management is not too keen on a replacement right now unless the doctors rule him out for more than a month.
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.
The ICC doesn't have any specific stand-by list as such and anyone could replace a current player based on approval from the event technical committee.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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