With opening bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar now possibly sidelined for the next three games, they have another injury headache to contend with after opener Shikhar Dhawan, whose return is unclear after he injured his hand in the game against Australia on June 9.
Bhuvneshwar walked off the field without completing his third over after landing awkwardly at the crease and straining his hamstring, as skipper Kohli confirmed after the game against Pakistan in Manchester.
“The Indian team have been given complete break for the next two days. The team management is not considering calling up standbys yet. We’ll review Bhuvneshwar’s fitness again after a couple of days and the team already has Shami to come into the side as his replacement against Afghanistan,” a BCCI official told CricketNext.
The Indian selectors had announced five standby players — Pant, Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel, Navdeep Saini and Ishant Sharma. If a pace bowler got injured Saini was supposed to be first replacement but the Delhi paceman is also sidelined by a side strain from which he is recovering at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
“I don’t think Saini will be called up as replacement now because he is recovering from a side strain at the NCA. He was supposed to come to England as one of the three net bowlers but the injury prevented him,” the BCCI official said.
