The veteran Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan injured his left shoulder while fielding in the third and final ODI against Australia in Bangalore. He was soon sent for the scans and was barred from batting in the second innings. Moreover, he was seen in a sling while in the dressing room and the current reports have suggested that he has been ruled out of the upcoming New Zealand tour as the scans showing not much of n improvement.
India are scheduled to play the first T20I of the five-match series against New Zealand on January 24. With the short turnaround between the two series, the Men in Blue was scheduled to leave in two batches, one of which left on Monday night and the other will take the flight to the Kiwi nation on Tuesday night. Dhawan, with his latest injury concern, will not be boarding the flight.
The report in Mumbai Mirror confirmed the news of Shikhar getting ruled out even as it is still not clear if the selection committee is considering naming a replacement.
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Meanwhile, it is also learned that the BCCI officials and the team management had a conference call with the selection committee as soon as the news broke. The replacement could be announced a little late as India A side is already in New Zealand to play the unofficial ODI series which is scheduled to commence on January 22.
Mayank Agarwal who was briefly the part of India’s World Cup squad last year can be the possible replacement and apart from him, players like Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw can also receive their maiden call-up to the limited-overs side. Mirror also reported that the head coach Ravi Shastri had a lot of discussions with the BCCI secretary Jay Shah regarding the crucial upcoming tour.
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On the othe rhand, a brief meeting also took place between them and the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly during the third ODI at the Hospitality area at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday. As far as India’s tour is concerned, they will be playing five T20Is, three ODIs and a couple of Tests in New Zealand.
