India will no longer have their '3D' player as Vijay Shankar has been ruled out of the 2019 World Cup with a toe injury that he picked up during practice.
Shankar picked up the injury when a Jasprit Bumrah yorker hit him on the toe and he missed the subsequent game against England on Sunday with Rishabh Pant drafted into the side as his replacement.
"Vijay got hit on the toe by a Jasprit Bumrah delivery once again. His situation is not great and he won't be able to take part in the tournament. He is going back home," PTI reported quoting a senior BCCI official.
"The Indian team management is likely to ask for Mayank Agarwal as a replacement since he is an opener and also it might give KL Rahul a chance to get back to the No.4 position in case Rishabh Pant fails in the next two games," the official added.
India skipper Virat Kohli had informed at the toss during the England game on Sunday that the all-rounder had a toe niggle and the signs weren't too good.
"Vijay Shankar has a toe niggle, Rishabh Pant is in. He brings in a lot of fearlessness. Once he gets to 20, then he's unstoppable," Kohli had said.
Shankar just scored 58 runs in the World Cup and picked up two wickets against Pakistan in the World Cup. There was lots of talk regarding Shankar's form but Kohli backed him ahead of the England game as well.
"So you can't really sit down and pinpoint things. But I personally felt that he (Shankar) looked really solid. There's not much that needs to be tinkered with. Sometimes in cricket you just need a bit of luck to get over from 30 to 60, and then you play a defining knock for the team. He's very close to that, and we're very confident that he's going to end up playing that kind of knock for us," Kohli said.
However, the World Cup is over for him and BCCI is likely to make a formal request to the ICC to call in a replacement, which could be Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal, who recently excelled on his Test debut in Australia.
Mayank, who made his Test debut against Australia last year, is yet to make his limited-overs debut for India.
It is expected that Mayank's name will be approved by the ICC's tournament technical committee and the player will arrive in Birmingham and travel to Leeds subsequently.
India lost their previous match to England by 31 runs at Edgbaston on Sunday and will take on Bangladesh at the same venue on Tuesday.
