Opening batsman Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of India’s upcoming ODI and Test series against New Zealand owing to a calf injury which he picked in the fifth and final T20I against the Kiwis on Sunday in Mount Maunganui.
The 32-year-old, who scored a match-winning 41-ball 60 on Sunday, retired hurt midway through his knock before KL Rahul took the charge as a captain.
"He is out of the tour. Right now, it's not looking good. The physio is assessing him. We will get to know how bad it is, but he is not taking any further part in the series," a top BCCI source told PTI on conditions on anonymity.
Read | Prithvi Shaw gets ODI call-up as India announce teams for New Zealand tour
In turn, India have called Mayank Agarwal as his replacement despite the fact that he is yet to make his ODI debut. He, in fact, had earned his maiden call during the World Cup in England last year as a replacement of Vijay Shankar, but didn’t feature in any game.
Shouldn't have disturbed Mayank for 3 Odis imo, Gill was better suited and more available to open than Mayank for these 3 Odis with Shaw.🏏
— Shantanu Shrivastava (@DaKingInDaNorff) February 3, 2020
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill, who scored a double hundred in the ongoing A series Tests against New Zealand A, is also back in the fray. He is expected to don the whites alongside Prithvi Shaw.
India are set to play three ODIs against New Zealand, which starts from February 5. Following that, two Test matches will be played, starting from February 21.
The Men in Blue have started their New Zealand tour in a blistering fashion by clean sweeping the five-match T20Is, two of which went into the super-over.
Read | Hardik Pandya out of New Zealand series with back injury
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Michael Bradley
