Shikhar Dhawan doubtful for the upcoming New Zealand tour due to shoulder injury

Thumb, knee and now shoulder- It seems that Shikhar Dhawan’s ordeal with injuries is not ending soon enough. The southpaw suffered a shoulder injury while fielding during the series decider between India and Australia in Bengaluru. 

It all happened when the southpaw in an attempt to save an Aaron Finch in the cover region, proceeded to hurt his shoulder. Dhawan was immediately taken for X-ray scans in the hospital and was replaced by Yuzvendra Chahal during India’s fielding. The southpaw was later spotted was a sling in his left arm, putting his participation in the upcoming tour of New Zealand in serious jeopardy.

The Men in Blue are set to travel to New Zealand on Monday morning and with the first T20I of the five-match series set to take place on January 24th, Dhawan does not have much time to recover from the injury, and a call from the team-management soon. Interestingly, Dhawan was hit on his rib-cage by a Pat Cummins bumper during his knock of 96 in the second ODI in Rajkot, following which he did not turn up to field during Australia’s run-chase.

Shikhar Dhawan has been marred with injuries lately

It has been a tricky year for Dhawan where he has got injured before coming back in style with the bat, only to see himself get injured again. The southpaw was hit by a Nathan Coulter-Nile bumper on his thumb during the India-Australia World Cup fixture, following which he was ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup. 

The southpaw returned to the set-up but soon found himself injured again during a Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy fixture, following which he was ruled out of the ODI and the three-match Twenty20 International series against the West Indies.

In Dhawan’s absence, KL Rahul made the most of his opportunities at the top of the order and following his success in T20I cricket and Shikhar’s (lack) of it, questions began to galore around the southpaw’s spot in the shortest format of the game. But, Dhawan responded with a fine half-century in the final T20I against Sri Lanka and then backed it up two back-to-back solid performances in the ODI series against the Aussies.

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