India’s star opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand due to shoulder injury. He suffered the injury while fielding in the third and final ODI against Australia in Bangalore.
Dhawan was sent for the scans immediately and didn’t even bat in the second innings. Moreover, he was seen in a sling while in the dressing room. The report of the scans has revealed that Dhawan is likely to be out for a long time. So far, it has been confirmed that he can’t take part in any one of the T20I game against New Zealand.
The men in blue are set to play their first of the five-match T20I series on January 24. The team left in two batches, one of which left on Monday night and the other will take the flight to the Kiwi nation on Tuesday night. BCCI is yet to confirm if they will name a replacement or not for the injured Dhawan.
However, it is unlikely for the selectors to fall in trouble even if they name a replacement at the last hour as the India A players are currently in New Zealand to play the unofficial ODI series against the hosts.
Mayank Agarwal might get a call-up to the side after he failed to make it to the playing XI, even after being named in India’s World Cup squad. Youngster Prithvi Shaw and experienced Suryakumar Yadav are also in contention for the spot. It has been known that Indian head coach Ravi Shastri was spotted with the BCCI secretary Jay Shah where they discussed a lot about the crucial upcoming tour in New New Zealand.
After the five-match T20I series, India will also play three ODIs and two Tests against the hosts, which will be part of the ICC World Test Championship.
T20 Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur.