Rishabh Pant Comes in as Cover for Injured Shikhar Dhawan

Rishabh Pant Comes in as Cover for Injured Shikhar Dhawan
Rishabh Pant Comes in as Cover for Injured Shikhar Dhawan

New Delhi: The BCCI have summoned Delhi wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant to reach England ‘as soon as possible’ to cover for injured opener Shikhar Dhawan at the ongoing ICC World Cup. The logistics team of the board is trying to figure out when Pant can join the team.

“Pant will be joining the team at the earliest as back-up as requested by the team management. Like Khaleel (Ahmed) he will be travelling with the team but he won’t be part of the squad just yet,” a BCCI official told CricketNext from Nottingham on Wednesday (June 12).

Pant’s exclusion from the original squad of 15 players for the ICC World Cup was a topic of hot debate as Dinesh Karthik was picked up as the back-up wicketkeeper. The youngster though is not part of the available squad for India, who now have only 14 fit players to select the final XI for games against New Zealand (June 13) and Pakistan (June 16) at least.

The team management is still hopeful that Dhawan, who injured his hand in the game against Australia on Sunday (June 9), will recover in a couple of weeks and should be available for the business end of the tournament. It was not clear when Pant will be arriving in England but BCCI is trying to make the arrangements at the earliest.

“Pant has already been informed and his kit as well as other paperwork has been handed to him. We are trying to get him to England as soon as possible but it all depends on the BCCI logistics team. However, we want to make it clear that Pant is not available for selection because he is not an official replacement yet,” the BCCI official clarified.

Pant along with Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel, Navdeep Saini and Ishant Sharma were the five stand-bys named by the Indian selectors for the World Cup.

“The selection committee always had Pant in the scheme of things because he was very close to getting picked for the final 15. The selectors believe that he is future Indian wicketkeeper in all formats. That’s why he was picked for the India ‘A’ tour of West Indies to acclimatise him to the conditions in Caribbean because the senior team will be touring there after the World Cup. Pant was training rigorously at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) as soon as the IPL got over. So he is in prime condition and ideal person to join the team,” source close to the selectors informed CricketNext.



Chairman of selection committee MSK Prasad along with selectors Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh are travelling with the Indian team throughout the World Cup in England and Wales.

Earlier on Tuesday (June 11), the Indian team management informed that Dhawan has been ruled out of three matches due to an injury on his left thumb.

“Dhawan is presently under the observation of the BCCI medical team. The team management has decided that Dhawan will continue to be in England and his progress will be monitored. Dhawan sustained an injury on the back of his left hand in the region between the index finger and thumb,” a statement from team management said on Tuesday.

It is expected that skipper Virat Kohli will give more information on Dhawan’s injury as well as Pant’s arrival at the pre-match press conference scheduled in Nottingham at 1.15pm (UK time).


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