Shikhar Dhawan has been chosen to replace Tamil Nadu right hander Murali Vijay for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Murali Vijay has not played for the Indian national team since sustaining a wrist injury after the Australia test series during the home season last year, which India won by 2-1. Vijay has complained of a pain in his right wrist during a preparatory match, and has been advised by BCCI officials to go back to the rehabilitation program. India are set to play three Tests, five ODIs and one T20I on their upcoming tour to Sri Lanka. Dhawan last played a single Test at Kolkata during the New Zealand tour of India last October, following which he suffered a hand injury and had to sit out the series against England and Australia.
The southpaw made his comeback in the ODI series against England, but it was at the Champions Trophy that he made a splash with scores of 68,125,78 to finish the Golden Bat of the championship for the second consecutive time. The last ODI series against West Indies has also been productive for Dhawan, with two half centuries that Team India played on the short tour. Dhawan, on the other hand, hasn’t played competitive cricket since the Australia tour. After his excellent performance in the series against England and Bangladesh, Dhawan had an average run in the Australia series and got only 113 runs in the three tests.
At the end of the series, Vijay revealed that he had sustained a fracture in his right wrist that would require surgery. “I couldn’t play certain shots and when I went out to bat, I had to grind it out. It was difficult to even defend off the front foot because it was my bottom hand that was injured,” Vijay said. He missed the IPL 2017 and Champions Trophy recuperating from the injury.The Sri Lanka series starts July 26.
