The Indian Test opener Mayank Agarwal is likely to replace the veteran opener, Shikhar Dhawan in the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies after the senior batsman failed to recover from his knee injury. India will be locking horns with the Caribbean team for three ODIs with the first match scheduled to be played in Chennai (December 15), Visakhapatnam (December 18) and Cuttack (December 22).
Dhawan sustained a deep cut on his knee during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game and was subsequently ruled out of the ongoing three-match T20 series where Sanju Samson came in as a replacement. It was expected that Shikhar would recover from the injury but it seems more serious than what was apprehended earlier.
One of the sources of PTI in BCCI said, “The selection committee has recommended Mayank’s name as Shikhar’s replacement after consultation with the team management. Dhawan is currently undergoing rehabilitation.”
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Mayank, who is currently playing Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu in Dindigul, will join the national team in Chennai before the first game. That the team management is keen on Mayank translating his stupendous Test performance into the ODI arena was first reported by PTI on November 18.
However, with in-form KL Rahul also in the ODI squad to the Indian deputy skipper, Rohit Sharma, Mayank may have to wait for his white-ball debut unless someone gets injured. Agarwal has been a revelation in the Test arena with 872 runs in nine Test matches including three centuries and three half-centuries at an average of over 67 including two double centuries as well.
The source had further added, “Mayank along with Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill were the three choices that selection committee had. But team management believes that Mayank’s List A record of 50-plus average and 100-plus strike rate with 13 hundreds is good enough to try him out in this format.”
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The break could be a blessing in disguise for Dhawan as he will get a chance to get back to domestic cricket and get his form back which he has lost in the last few months. He has been going through a rough patch since the start of India’s away series against the West Indies after he had to come back from World Cup due to thumb fracture.
India’s ODI Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-capt), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
