New Zealand vs India: Shikhar Dhawan ruled out of the T20I and ODI series

Shikhar Dhawan injured his shoulder while fielding in the third and final ODI against Australia in Bangalore. He was soon sent for the scans and didn’t even bat in the second innings. Moreover, he was seen in a sling while in the dressing room. And now it has been confirmed that the southpaw is ruled out of the upcoming New Zealand tour as the results of the scans are not encouraging.

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, is set to be left out of the touring party.

The report in Mumbai Mirror confirmed the news of Shikhar Dhawan getting ruled out even as it is still not clear if the selection committee is considering naming a replacement.

Any player part of India A may replace Shikhar Dhawan

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that the BCCI officials and the team management had a conference call with the selection committee soon after Shikhar Dhawan’s news was confirmed. The replacement could be announced a little late as India A side is already in New Zealand to play the unofficial ODI series which gets underway on January 22.

Mayank Agarwal who was briefly the part of India’s World Cup squad last year could come into contention even as the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw can also get 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.

To add to it, 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 T20 Internationals, three ODIs and a couple of Tests in New Zealand.