With this unfortunate injury to Dhawan, who should replace 'Gabbar' in the national side for the time being?
Shikhar Dhawan, who sustained a thumb injury by a rising delivery from pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile could likely miss matches against New Zealand and Pakistan.
It is learned that the batsman will be missing two games and has been taken to Leeds to be assessed by the Indian team’s physio Patrick Farhart. An update will be provided later on Tuesday.
Dhawan had helped in India's win over Australia in the World Cup on Sunday. Keeping pain aside, the batsman went on to score 117 off 109 balls. However, he didn't take the field due to pain and Ravindra Jadeja fielded in his place for the entire 50 overs.
The team would be hoping that it is not a fracture and just a bit of swelling. The left thumb has been a long-standing issue for Dhawan. He first picked up the injury in 2016 when he was hit by a bouncer on the same spot by New Zealand's Trent Boult.
Standbys Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu are in contention to replace Dhawan in case he would be completely ruled out of the event.
India will next take on New Zealand on June 13 at Trent Bridge.
With this unfortunate injury to Dhawan, who should replace 'Gabbar' in the national side for the time being?
Here are all the possible replacement at whom captain Kohli maybe looking at:
1. KL Rahul
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The 27-year old right-handed batsman is expected to be Kohli's first choice to replacement of Shikhar Dhawan as the opening batsman and pair up with Rohit Sharma.
Rahul has been in terrific form in the IPL, which in the first place earned him the call up for the national side. In the pre-world cup warmup game, Rahul came in and scored a TON and impressed everyone.
Former Indian players like, Harbhajan Singh also came out in support of the opener and listed him as one of the most underrated and technically gifted Indian players.
ODI Record
Matches: 16
Inns 15
NO 4
Runs 380
HS 100*
Ave 34.54
BF 469
SR 81.02
100 1
50 2
4s 29
6s 6
Ct 7
St 0
(Image: Reuters)
2. Dinesh Karthik
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The wicketkeeper-batsman is expected to be Virat's second option to bring into the side. DK has loads of composure to add to the middle order and also has world cup experience under his belt.
ODI Record:
NO: 21
Matches: 91
Inns: 77
Runs: 1738
HS: 79
Ave: 31.03
BF: 2358
SR: 73.70
100: 0
50: 9
4s: 174
6s: 15
Ct: 61
St: 7
3. Vijay Shankar
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The 28-year-old all-rounder raised a lot of eyebrows when he got drafted into the World Cup side ahead of Pant and Rayudu. Maybe this is his time to prove the critics wrong and show why BCCI and Kohli showed so much trust in the Sunrisers Hyderabad player.
ODI Record:
NO: 0
Matches: 9
Inns: 5
Runs: 165
HS: 46
Ave: 33.00
BF: 171
SR: 96.49
100: 0
50: 0
4s: 14
6s: 4
Ct: 5
St: 0
(Image: Reuters)
