Dhawan likely to miss three games due to injury

India opener Shikhar Dhawan is likely to miss the next three games of the World Cup with a thumb injury.

The left-hander was struck by a delivery from Australia pace bowler Pat Cummins during his 117 off 109 balls in the 36-run win at The Oval on Sunday.

He did not field during the Australia innings and will be given “10-12 days to recover”.

Dhawan will miss matches against New Zealand and Pakistan and is a doubt for the Afghanistan game on 22 June.

“We don’t want to rule out a precious player like Shikhar so in around 10 or 12 days we’ll be taking a call,” said India assistant coach Sanjay Bangar.

KL Rahul, who batted at four and six in India’s opening two games, will open with Rohit Sharma against New Zealand. Rishabh Pant has been roped in as cover for the injured Shikhar Dhawan and is being flown to the UK for the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup. Pant will join the team in Manchester but he’ll only serve as a standby for Dhawan, confirmed the BCCI.

Sanjay Bangar, assistant coach of the Indian side, confirmed that Dhawan would need at least 10-12 days before he is reassessed, which means the opener is certain to miss the matches against New Zealand (June 13) and Pakistan (June 16).

“As far as Shikhar is concerned, we’ll be observing him, and around the 10th or 12th day, we’ll get to know where he stands, and we’ll be in a better position to take a call because we don’t want to rule out a precious player like Shikhar,” said Bangar who added the KL Rahul will move to the top of the order in Dhawan’s absence while Vijay Shankar also comes into the picture.