India-WI T20Is: Dhawan ruled out, Samson named his replacement
The Indian cricket team suffered a blow ahead of the three-match T20I series against West Indies at home, starting December 6. Senior opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the series. Wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson has been named his replacement. Dhawan suffered a knee injury while playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Here's more.
Dhawan suffers injury while playing for Delhi
Earlier, according to a report in The Hindu, Dhawan injured his left knee while playing for Delhi in a match against Maharashtra in the first Super League match of the domestic T20 tournament. The incident occurred when Dhawan attempted a full-stretch dive while batting, and a piece of wood from his pad pierced his knee. The batsman later received multiple stitches.
Dhawan hasn't been in top form of late
Dhawan, who is unlikely to recover in time for the T20Is, will eye a return for the ODIs. He hasn't enjoyed a lot of success since being forced to leave the 2019 World Cup midway. His form in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy hasn't been great. In five matches, his highest score was 35. Dhawan will need to make a strong comeback.
Samson will hope to get some games
Samson was called up to the T20I side against Bangladesh earlier this month. However, he didn't get a single game. For the series against West Indies, the promising player was dropped. It's a good move by the selectors to name him as Dhawan's replacement. He will hope to get some matches under his belt in order to stake a claim in the team.
India's T20I squad for the series against West Indies
Here's India's T20I squad for the series against WI: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Here's the complete schedule of the series
After Mumbai police refused security for the first T20I (December 6), the match has been shifted to Hyderabad. The second (Thiruvananthapuram) and third ODI (Mumbai) will take place on December 8 and 12 respectively. Meanwhile, the first ODI is set to be played in Chennai on December 15. The second (Vizag) and third ODI (Cuttack) will be played on December 18 and 22 respectively.
