11JUNE2019
STATE OBSERVER
In a major setback to India, opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the side’s upcoming two matches of the ongoing 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup due to a thumb injury.
In a major setback to India, opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the side’s upcoming two matches of the ongoing 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup due to a thumb injury.
The 33-year-old sustained the injury while batting during India’s 36-run win over Australia in their second clash of the quadrennial event at The Oval in London on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Dhawan underwent precautionary scans to determine the extent of the injury on his swollen left thumb and now it has been revealed that he would miss India’s upcoming ICC World Cup clashes against New Zealand and arch-rivals Pakistan.
The Indian opener played through pain after being hit on his thumb by a delivery from pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile during the Australia clash. He went on to score 117 off 109 balls besides also sharing a 127-run stand and 93-run partnership with Rohit Sharma (57) and skipper Virat Kohli (82), respectively to help the Men in Blue post a huge total of 352 for five against Australia.
Subsequently, Dhawan did not take the field during Australia’s chase and Ravindra Jadeja took his place instead for the entire 50 overs as India went on to clinch their second consecutive win in the 2019 ICC World Cup.
It is now to be seen whether Dhawan would be playing in the rest of the cricket’s showpiece event for India or not. Notably, the Indian opener has been a consistent performer in major ICC events. In the ICC World Cup 2015, Dhawan had notched up a total of 412 runs at an average of 51.50. He is now only the third Indian batsman to notch up at least three ICC World Cup centuries.
