Shikhar Dhawan Replaces Injured Murali Vijay For Sri Lanka Tests

Ahead of the three-match Test series in Sri Lanka, India have suffered a big blow as their opener Murali Vijay has been ruled out of the entire series owing to a wrist injury. The right-handed batsman will be replaced by Shikhar Dhawan.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee on Monday named Shikhar Dhawan as the replacement for injured Murali Vijay in the Test team, which is scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series,” BCCI said through a media release.

UPDATE: @SDhawan25 to replace injured Murali Vijay for India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2017 pic.twitter.com/OD07odsd3q

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 17, 2017

The Tamil Nadu star had played few matches of India’s 13-match home season with with an injured wrist. He had missed just one Test during the marathon season and later revealed he had been playing with a fractured wrist. Following the end of the season, he travelled to the UK for surgery and missed the Indian Premier League. However, he was expected to join the team for the Sri Lanka series after undergoing rehabilitation and resuming practice but he will now have to wait for some more time as he  complained of pain in his right wrist during a preparatory match.

“Vijay, who had suffered a wrist injury during Australia’s tour of India, has complained of pain in his right wrist, while playing a preparatory match. The BCCI medical team has therefore advised that Vijay should continue his rehabilitation program,” the release stated.

Vijay was one of India’s most consistent batsmen in the home season where he amassed 771 runs in the 12 Tests he played including three hundreds and as many half-centuries.

On the other hand, his replacement Shikhar Dhawan had a forgettable outing in the home season. After losing his place in the team to KL Rahul, he was given a chance against New Zealand but managed to score 17 and 1 before suffering an injury. The selectors later opted for Gautam Gambhir and Abhinav Mukund. Dhawan, nevertheless, is in good form at the moment. He was the highest run-scorer in the Champions Trophy and looked in good touch during the West Indies tour too.

The three-match Test series will begin on July 26 at Galle before the teams move to the SSC, Colombo on the 3rd of August. The final Test will be played from August 12 in Pallekele.

Squad:

Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, W Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, M Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.