India vs Australia: Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma’s fitness for the third ODI to be confirmed on matchday
The Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Saturday that the call on openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan's participation in series decider against Australia in Bangalore will be taken on the matchday itself. While Rohit hurt his shoulder while fielding in the second ODI, Dhawan was hit on the ribs by Pat Cummins.
"Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are progressing well. Their recovery is being monitored and a call on their participation in the final ODI will be taken tomorrow before the match," said the BCCI in a statement.
Dhawan has been in fine form in the series, which is his first series after a long injury layoff. He has scored two consecutive half-centuries, missing a century in Rajkot by only three runs. Rohit, on the other hand, has failed to do anything substantial in both the games.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the second and third ODI after being hit on the helmet by a Cummins bouncer in the series opener. BCCI called in Andhra Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat as Pant’s replacement, but Manish Pandey was fielded in the XI in place of Pant.
If either of the two openers are ruled out of Sunday’s game, then KL Rahul will likely be promoted to open the innings and the rest of the batting order will have to be reshuffled.