ICC World Cup 2019 | Rishabh Pant called up as stand-by for injured Shikhar Dhawan

India opener Shikhar Dhawan suffered a nasty blow to his thumb off a Nathan Coulter-Nile delivery in the recent 36-run win against Australia on Sunday at the Oval. Dhawan continued to bat at the crease but did not come out to field in the second innings as Ravindra Jadeja replaced him. Post the win, scans revealed that Dhawan suffered a thumb fracture during the match and will not be available for selection for the next three weeks.

Meanwhile, the BCCI selection committee has asked Delhi batsman Rishabh Pant to fly to England as cover for the injured opener. Pant is expected to join the team in Nottingham on the eve of India's match against New Zealand.

"Rishabh is just being called here in advance as standby so that he can acclimatise. If Dhawan can't continue, we'll seek an official go ahead from ICC for replacement and he (Rishabh) can immediately join the team," sources told TOI reporters.

The team management is convinced that the hurting left-hander should be allowed time to recuperate even it comes at the cost of missing a couple of matches. 

"The scans have confirmed a hairline fracture. Doctors have given a tentative healing period. But the healing process is individual-specific and you can't tell overnight if he's going to be fine in 10 days or 15 days or more. But what you can certainly do is wait for a week and take a more assertive call.

"Look at it this way: Dhawan misses the matches against New Zealand and Pakistan but stays with the team. We get a fair idea of how he's recovering. If all's well, then we have a fully fit Dhawan towards the business end of the tournament and that's great. If not, we can always have the replacement ready. We've got to be careful with how we choose our cards. This is obviously a huge, unfortunate blow. But then, we've got to live with it," Sources added.