Shikhar Dhawan replacement: Who will act as Dhawan’s replacement in the Indian World Cup squad after a thumb fracture
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It wasn’t a pleasant start to a fresh new Tuesday for the Indian Cricket fans after their star opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup for as many as 3 weeks.
In what seemed to be an innocuous blow on his left thumb off Nathan Coulter Nile’s rising delivery, turned out to be an hairline fracture, as the Southpaw will reportedly undergo his next set of scans in Leeds.
Who will replace Dhawan?
Apart from the 15-member squad announced by Indian Team for the World Cup, two other designated standbys-Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu are in contention to replace Dhawan in case he is completely ruled out of World Cricket’s biggest Tournament.
But, considering the fact that KL Rahul will most likely replace him at the opening slot, the No.4 ODI batting spot conundrum, which India had apparently sorted out is back again to haunt them, as the slot would again become a point of contention with Rahul moving up the order.
Thus, the Indian team management might push for Mumbai batsman and India A captain- Shreyas Iyer as he is a specialist No. 4 batsman. Moreover, Iyer is also in England currently.
Dhawan is being assessed by the team’s physio Patrick Farhart and specialists are being consulted right now to get a clear idea on his availability.
Iyer has played a total 0f 6 One-Day inning in Indian colours and has scored 210 runs at an average of 42 and a strike rate of 96.33. He had scored two half-centuries against Sri Lanka in December 2017 in at Home.
But, considering the dearth of left-handed batsmen in the Indian squad currently, Rishabh Pant will more likely be roped in to fill up the 15-member squad. He has had a brilliant 12th season of the IPL for his franchise Delhi Capitals as he scored 488 runs in 16 matches at an average of 37.53 with 3 fifties under his belt.
It will be interesting to see who between Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar would fill in the no.4 batting spot during India’s 3rd match of the World Cup against New Zealand which will be played at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on June 13.
