Pant replaces injured Dhawan in India CWC19 squad
He sustained the injury during India's win over Australia after being struck on the hand by a delivery from Pat Cummins, and though he was able to resume batting and carry on to a century, scans subsequently revealed a fracture.
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 #CWC19
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 19, 2019
It had been hoped that he might recover in time for the latter stages of the competition, but the BCCI have since revealed that he will need to remain in a cast until mid-July.
Rishabh Pant will replace Dhawan in the squad, having flown over as cover after the opener sustained the injury. Though he has played just five ODIs with a high score of only 36, his exploits in the Test and IPL arenas meant many were surprised when he wasn't included in India's original squad.
Pant is unlikely to slot into India's XI straightaway, and if he does win selection, he will most likely not replace Dhawan at the top of the order. It was KL Rahul, a regular opener who was playing at No.4 when Dhawan and Rohit Sharma opened, who moved up in India's win over Pakistan, impressing with a half-century, with Vijay Shankar slotting into the middle order.
India's next game is against Afghanistan on Saturday, 22 June at the Hampshire Bowl.