Bhuvneshwar Kumar Ruled Out Of West Indies ODIs, Shardul Thakur Added As Replacement

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series that will begin on December 15 at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai against the West Indies. In a statement released by the BCCI, it highlighted Bhuvneshwar's unavailability for the series. "Bhuvneshwar complained of pain in his right groin after the final T20I in Mumbai on Wednesday. He underwent an ultrasound scan conducted by a specialist and the BCCI medical team found that his sportsman’s hernia symptoms have resurfaced. A specialist opinion will now be sought, and his management plan will be decided accordingly," the release said.

Shardul Thakur has been named as the replacement in the side. Thakur has played five ODIs for India and his last match was against Hong Kong during the 2018 Asia Cup in Dubai. In five ODIs, he has taken six wickets at an average of 33 and an economy rate of 6.08. Thakur's best haul of 4/52 came in the tour of South Africa during the ODI in Centurion which India won by eight wickets to seal the six-match series 5-1.

Thakur was impressive in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Mumbai in which he picked up nine wickets in seven games but Mumbai crashed out of the play-off race. His best haul was 2/29 against eventual champions Karnataka in which he took the wickets of Manish Pandey and Rohan Kadam. Mumbai chased down the target of 174 with an over to spare as they defeated Karnataka for the first time in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

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For Bhuveshwar, his dip in form and woes continue. After suffering an injury in the World Cup, Bhuvneshwar has been in and out of the side. After his haul of 4/31 against the West Indies in Port of Spain, Bhuvneshwar has struggled. In the three-match Twenty20 Internationals, Bhuvneshwar went wicketless for two games and in the third match, he took 2/41 and got the wickets of Brandon King and Kieron Pollard. The first match of the series will be played in Chennai while the second and third games will be played in Vizag and Cuttack on December 18 and December 22. West Indies have not won an ODI series against India since 2006 while their last series win in India came in 2002.

India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur

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