Virat-led Indian cricket team have lost their star players Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to an injury. In-form opener Dhawan has been ruled out of the ongoing tournament after failing to make enough recovery in a fresh assessment of his thumb fracture. On the other hand, paceman Bhuvneshwar will not play for his national team in next two-three games after pulling a hamstring during the match against Pakistan at the Old Trafford on Sunday.
Dhawan, 33, picked up the injury on his left thumb during the June 9 clash against Australia in London and was initially ruled out of three games -- against Pakistan (June 16), Afghanistan (June 22) and the West Indies (June 27).
"Shikhar Dhawan has fractured the base of the metacarpal (bone) of his left hand. His hand will remain in cast till mid July which rules him out of the ICC 2019 World Cup," team's administrative manager Sunil Subramanium told mediapersons.
"We have written to the ICC requesting Rishabh Pant as replacement," he added.
Pant comes in with an accumulated ODI experience of five matches but is considered a trump card owing to his fearless approach. He was part of the official standbys list along with Ambati Rayudu.
Dhawan was always running against time to be fit for the match against England, scheduled for June 30 in Birmingham.
It is learnt that the swashbuckling opener, who played through pain to score a hundred against Australia, "had no chance" of recovering in time.
"Dhawan was never going to be fit in time. However, the team management was reluctant to name a replacement. It was never on same page with selectors who wanted to announce an official replacement right after his (Dhawan's) diagnosis," said a source privy to the developments.