Reportedly indian opener shikhar dhawan has been ruled out of the upcoming five T20Is against new zealand because of the left shoulder injury he picked up during the 3rd ODI vs australia in bengaluru on Sunday. Dhawan's absence from the indian squad that left for new zealand on monday, was suggestive of the fact that he might not be available for the T20I series after he injured his left shoulder in the series-deciding third ODI between india and Australia.
Accordingly the left-handed batsman was taken for scans for his injury as KL rahul and rohit sharma opened for India. Furthermore dhawan dived to save an Aaron Finch shot in the cover region and ended up hurting his left shoulder in the fifth over. dhawan walked off the field after getting hurt and was later taken for an X-Ray. Meanwhile the 34 year old was already in pain before coming into the series decider as he was hit on the rib cage by a Pat Cummins bouncer while batting in the 2nd ODI against australia on friday as he did not take the field during the entire australia innings.
Moreover indian skipper virat kohli stressed upon putting new zealand under pressure early on while focusing on "clarity of mind". kohli said "We want to bat well when we bat first and in case we're defending a low total, we should be able to do that as well. Clarity of mind is really crucial because we're playing in conditions that are not ours, so we have to take even more intensity into that series to put the home team under pressure, set that sort of template from game one and build from there".
