Dejected Shikhar Dhawan thanks fans for support after crashing out of World Cup 2019

He will be 37 when the next World Cup will be here. That is an age when one’s form in a sport is not guaranteed. It was indeed a heart-breaking exit for Shikhar Dhawan from ICC World Cup 2019 as hopes were dashed over the recovery of his fractured thumb. Dhawan sustained the injury in the game against Australia at the Oval on June 9. Even though he hit a match-winning hundred, but Dhawan also suffered the injury off the bowling of Pat Cummins. The ace batsman was kept with the side for further monitoring but on Wednesday, it was confirmed that he won’t be part of the World Cup anymore.

India’s team manager Sunil Subramaniam said after consultation with several specialists, the decision was taken since Dhawan will be recovering only by the middle of July. He said the southpaw’s fracture has happened at the base of the first metacarpal on his left hand. He also said that the Indian squad has sought permission to replace Dhawan with Rishabh Pant. The wicketkeeper-batsman is already in England as Dhawan’s cover.

In a video posted on his Instagram account, Dhawan thanked the fans for extending all the support while confirming his exit from the tournament. “Unfortunately, my thumb won’t be recovering on time. I really wanted to play the World Cup. Now it’s time for me, to go back and recover well,” Dhawan who is fondly called “Gabbar”, said. He said the Indian team is doing great at the moment and asked the fans to continue supporting them. The man, who otherwise is jovial, looked dejected in the video.

Here is Dhawan’s video:

Dhawan came very close to join an elite record club

It was Dhawan second World Cup after 2015 in which he was successful. In two World Cups, the batsman has played 10 matches and scored three hundreds. He was just one ton short of equalling an elite record jointly held by former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Dhawan has six hundreds in ICC tournaments while the other two have seven.

KL Rahul opened the Indian innings with in-form Rohit Sharma in the absence of Dhawan in the match against Pakistan and the partnership paid off. While Rahul scored 57, Rohit slammed his second hundred (140) of the tournament to add 136 runs for the first wicket to give India a solid foundation to fire. India went on to win the game by 89 runs via DLS Method.