Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan will not take the field for the entirety of the Australian innings after he was hit on the rib-cage during his 96-run knock in the second ODI. The BCCI provided an update on their official Twitter profile on the same.
"Update: Shikhar Dhawan got hit on the rib-cage on his right side. He will not be taking the field today. Yuzvendra Chahal is in as his substitute," the BCCI wrote.
Dhawan was hit off the second delivery of the 10th over of the Indian innings. While he was in pain but he carried on and scored 96 in India's total of 340 for 6.
Back in form since the last T20 encounter against Sri Lanka, the senior opener looked solid in his 90-ball-96 while Kohli, back at his familiar one drop position, held the middle-order with a 78 off 76 balls and Rahul (80 off 52 balls) provided the final flourish in what was much improved batting performance from the hosts.
While Dhawan added 81 for the opening stand with Rohit Sharma (42) who would regret this missed opportunity on a batting belter after getting set, the southpaw also had a vital 103-run stand with Kohli for the second wicket.
At the start, Dhawan began with a bowler's bck-drive, giving a glimpse of what was in store. The southpaw completed his sixth fifty versus Australia in 60 balls as he played shots all around the ground.
The last time Dhawan scored successive fifties was in January 2019 against New Zealand. This was his 29th in 50-over cricket.
