India have decided to fly in Rishabh Pant, the 21-year-old wicket-keeper batsman, as cover for the injured Shikhar Dhawan, although no official replacement has been named in the 15-member squad yet.
Pant, who had been left out of India’s original ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 squad, had been named as one of the stand-bys. According to reports in the Indian media, he will fly into the UK on Thursday, 13 June, to get acclimatised should the need arise for him to be a part of the 15. As an explosive left-handed batsman, with a strike-rate of 130.98 in the five one-day internationals he’s played so far, Pant is a like-for-like option to replace Dhawan. He has two hundreds in his nine-Test career, including one in England. He was in good form during the Indian Premier League as well.
