New Delhi, Jun 19 (UNI) Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan was on Wednesday ruled out of the remainder ICC World Cup tournament due to thumb injury sustained during the league match against Australia.
"Following several specialist opinions, he will remain in a cast until the middle of July and therefore will not be available for the remainder of CWC 19," the BCCI tweeted on Wednesday.
"Shikhar Dhawan has been diagnosed with a fracture of the first metacarpal on his left hand following a ball impact injury during the team's match versus Australia," the BCCI added.
The left-hander suffered the injury when a rising delivery from Australian speedster Pat Cummins hit him in the first half of the match on Sunday, June 9. However, he continued to play with the injury and scored 117 off 109 in the winning cause.
The 33-year-old batsman who had scans on his left thumb, remained with the Indian side as per the management's decision while being under the observation of the BCCI medical team. However, with his injury needing a longer recovery time, he won't take further part in the tournament.
"Shikhar Dhawan has fractured the base of the metacarpal (bone) of his left hand. His hand will remain in cast till mid July which rules him out of the ICC 2019 World Cup,"team's administrative manager Sunil Subramanium told mediapersons.
"We have written to the ICC requesting Rishabh Pant as replacement", he added.
Dhawan's loss in ICC campaign is a big blow for Indian side. His outstanding century against Kangaroo's was only a reminder that how valuable asset he is for team India.
Dhawan has scored 1238 runs with 6 tons and 4 fifties in his overall 20 World Cup matches with an average of 65.15 and strike rate of 98.25.
However, the 21-year-old Wicket Keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant, who lost his chance in the World Cup squad to Dinesh Kartik, will replace the southpaw in the 15-member team.

Pant had scored impressive hundreds during the Test tours of England and Australia. He also had a very good IPL season this year with scoring 488 runs.
The team management had to make an announcement on Dhawan's injury as Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also injured during the high voltage India versus Pakistan match on Sunday, June 16.
For the league match against Afghanistan on June 22, India would have had only 13 players to select from the squad if Pant was not brought in as a replacement. Bhuvneshwar is also out of three matches with a hamstring niggle.
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