Rishabh Pant has been asked to board a flight to England to cover for the injured Shikhar Dhawan in the ICC 2019 World Cup.
According to the Hindustan Times, the wicket-keeper batsman will join the Indian team but not as an official replacement since the second opener’s position will be revealed later.
Dhawan’s thumb injury rules him out for a probable 3 weeks and that means Rishabh who was ignored for the 15-member World Cup squad was the destined choice as a standby. He was preferred over Ambati Rayudu who was the other standby option available.
Despite calling in an extra player in Pant, India may decide to open with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma but surely adding the Delhi batsman will call for some squad depth especially with heavyweight challenges awaiting team India in the next week.
Passing out an official update on Dhawan, India’s team management was quoted as saying:
The team management has decided that Shikhar Dhawan will continue to be in England and his progress will be monitored.
Dhawa helped India cruise to a solid 352 thanks to his 117 off 109 balls against Australia and his absence will be felt.