What’s the story?
With a couple of days to go for the third and final game at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan visited a hospital concerning an injury, the details of which is not known yet.
In case you missed it..
The left-hander has been in poor form in the ongoing series against England, having been dismissed for single-figure score(4) in Pune and for 11 in Cuttack, thereby raising question marks over his place in the playing XI for the third ODI in Kolkata.
The heart of the matter
The 31-year-old headed to the Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals in the city and on enquiring the reason, an official said that they could not confirm the extent of te injury suffered by the Delhi batsman, but did say that he had paid a visit to the hospital.
"We cannot confirm the extent of his injury or whether it is just a routine check up right now. But he was here," he said.
India have already sealed the series 2-0 with a narrow win in the second game at Cuttack on Thursday night, which saw a match aggregate of 747 runs, including 3 hundreds. England made a fighting response to India’s total of 381 for 6, reaching 366 for 8 in their 50 overs, with a hundred from captain Eoin Morgan and fifties from Jason Roy and Joe Root.
Earlier in the afternoon, India had reached the massive total on the back of a 150 from Yuvraj Singh and 134 from MS Dhoni. The duo put on 256 runs for the fourth wicket, which is now the biggest stand for the fourth wicket by any pair against England and the second highest overall.
What’s next?
The Indian team management will obviously assess Dhawan’s condition over the next day or so before taking a final decision on participation in the game on Sunday. If Dhawan is unable to play the game, then Ajinkya Rahane will most likely replace him at the opening position.
Sportskeeda’s take
This could come both as a blessing in disguise as well as a blow for Dhawan. The former because it would give him some time away from the game to assess whether where he was going wrong and get back as an improved player.
On the other hand, if he does miss out on a place in the XI on Sunday and if Rahane makes the most of the opportunity, then he could have to warm the benches when the next series comes up.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
