Reports: Injury rules Shikhar Dhawan out of West Indies T20Is, Sanju Samson to be likely replacement

Things are just not falling into place for Shikhar Dhawan at the moment. The India opener has looked like a pale shadow of his usual self since returning to action during the West Indies tour. In fact, it would not be at all surprising, if selectors take a harsh decision over his place in the ODI and T20I team. He last played for India during the T20I series against Bangladesh and failed to impress.

The Delhi star, who has already lost his place in the Test side, scored 41, 31 and 19 in those three games against Bangladesh. Unsurprisingly, he faced criticism from all around before he decided to play for Delhi in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. But returning to domestic circuit did not change his fortunes either as he could not find his form.

Things then went from bad to worse when he injured his knee last week while playing against Maharashtra side. The southpaw was attempting a full-stretched dive to return to his crease when a piece of wood in his batting pad pierced his knee and made a deep cut. He realised that he was bleeding once he returned to the pavilion after he was dismissed and had to be hospitalised.

Just hours after receiving that injury, he took to Twitter to give an update and said that he would recover in 4-5 days. But things have further worsened for Dhawan. According to Sportstar, the opener is unlikely to recover in time for the upcoming three-match T20I series against West Indies, starting on December 6. The report claimed that the player has been ruled out of the series.

Replacement named

As per the report, Sanju Samson has replaced Dhawan in the T20I side. The Kerala batsman was a baffling omission from the original squad. He was a part of the T20I squad for India’s last T20I assignment which was against Bangladesh earlier this month. But despite warming the bench in all the three games, he was surprisingly dropped from the squad for the upcoming series.

It would now be interesting to say whether he gets a chance in the playing XI or not. He will be competing with Manish Pandey for a spot in the playing eleven. Meanwhile, KL Rahul is set to open with Rohit Sharma in absence of Dhawan.