Show must go on, will win WC: Dhawan

Southampton, June 19 (IANS) An emotional Shikhar Dhawan said on Wednesday that the "show must go on" without him at the ongoing World Cup after the India opener was ruled out of the showpiece event due to a thumb fracture.

"I feel emotional to announce that I will no longer be a part of #CWC19. Unfortunately, the thumb won't recover on time. But the show must go on... I'm grateful for all the love & support from my teammates, cricket lovers & our entire nation," Dhawan said in a tweet.

"The boys are doing a great job at the moment and will continue the good work and win the World Cup," Dhawan added.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who came in as Dhawan's cover a few days back, has been officially named as his replacement.

While IANS had broken the news, team manager Sunil Subramaniam addressed the media here on Wednesday and confirmed the same.

"Shikhar has a fracture on the left hand and will remain in cast until July. We have requested the ICC for Rishabh pant as a replacement," he said.

IANS learnt that Dhawan visited a specialist on Wednesday morning before the call to bring in Pant as replacement was taken.

Explaining the nature of fracture, BCCI tweeted: "Dhawan has been diagnosed with a fracture of the first metacarpal on his left hand following a ball impact injury during the team's second match versus Australia at the Oval on 5th June 2019."

Earlier, India's assistant coach Sanjay Bangar had said that the team management did not want to rule out Dhawan and was observing his progress.

"We will take at least 10-12 days to take a call on Shikhar's condition. We don't want to rule out a precious player like him," Bangar had told the media on the eve of India's third World Cup clash against New Zealand.

Speaking after the India-New Zealand game was washed out, skipper Virat Kohli had revealed the reason behind keeping Dhawan under observation.

"Hopefully, the injury heals quickly and he (Dhawan) will be available for the latter half of our league games and the semifinals for sure. From that point of view, we want to hold him back, keep him here. He wants to play. I think that kind of mindset will help in healing the injury. Dhawan is going to be in a plaster for a couple of weeks. After that we will assess where he stands," Kohli had said.

Dhawan suffered the injury after being hit by a Pat Cummins' delivery during his 109-ball knock of 117 against Australia. While the X-ray didn't show any fracture, CT scan revealed otherwise and Dhawan was taken to a specialist for further assessment.