India’s world cup hopes suffered a big blow as in-form opener Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the ongoing world cup for three weeks due to thumb fracture. The southpaw got hit on his thumb in the match against Australia which raised concerns for the team management. Dhawan went onto score a match winning hundred for the team but didn’t come to field in the second innings after which Ravindra Jadeja was sent as a substitute fielder.
Dhawan was hit twice in the match- first in the 9th over bowled by Patt Cummins when he was batting at 24 and second in the 40th over when he took a blow on a sharp uprising bowl by Nathan Coulter-Nile.
The 33-year-old went for a scan with team physio Patrick Farhart on Tuesday where it was revealed that he had a fractured thumb. Team India reached Nottingham on Monday- the host city for India vs New Zealand clash which takes place on 13th June.
The Delhi lad will now miss the encounter against- New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, West Indies and England which will take place in the month of June.
Shikhar and his love for ICC tournaments
Shikhar Dhawan is a totally different cricketer when it comes to multi-nation tournaments. He allready has 6 hundreds in ICC tournaments which is equal to the record of the great “Sachin Tendulkar”. His injury will also play a big physiological effect on Team India who are now left to go with the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
Shikhar Dhawan is likely to be replaced by Rishabh Pant or Shreyas Iyer in the team. For the upcoming encounter against New Zealand, India is likely to field KL Rahul at the top order and the middle order slot will be taken by Dinesh Karthik or Vijay Shankar.
