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India captain Rohit Sharma suffered an injury to his left thumb while fielding during the second ODI between India and Bangladesh. He had to walk off the field and then go for scans. Rohit came back on the field to bat but not at his usual batting position. The Indian captain also played a blistering knock (51* off 28 balls) but looked in pain on a few occasions.
After the match, Rohit confirmed that there was no fracture to his thumb. Meanwhile, India's head coach Rahul Dravid revealed that Rohit Sharma won’t be available for the third ODI to be played on 10 December. Dravid also sounded sceptical about the Indian captain’s availability for the two Tests, starting 14 December.
"Rohit will certainly miss the next game, fly back to Bombay, consult with an expert and see how it is and whether he can come back for the Test matches or not, I'm not sure. It's too soon to say that," Rahul Dravid said in a post-match press conference.
While Abhimanyu Easwaran is set to replace Rohit the batter, who will lead the team in Rohit Sharma’s absence, is the question. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named KL Rahul as the vice-captain of the team and he is the one expected to take up the captain’s role in Rohit’s absence.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami are set to be replaced in the Test squad. Both these players missed the ODI series with injuries.
India's squad for Bangladesh Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav