Shikhar Dhawan was formally ruled out of the World Cup on Wednesday, exactly 10 days after the Indian opener was hit on his left hand by a Pat Cummins delivery during India’s match against Australia.

Rishabh Pant, who was immediately brought to England as a back-up while the Indian team management waited thumb and foot on Dhawan to recover, has now been named as Dhawan’s replacement in India’s 15-man squad.

The International Cricket Council has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 has approved Rishabh Pant as a replacement player for Shikhar Dhawan in India’s squad for the remainder of the tournament, a statement from the global body said. What perhaps prompted the team management to finally make an annoucement on Dhawan’s injury was the fact that even Bhuvneshwar Kumar is injured.

India would have had only 13 players to select from in the Afghanistan game on June 22 if Pant was not brought in as a replacement. Bhuvneshwar is out of three matches with a hamstring niggle. “Bhuvneshwar is being assessed by team physio Patrick Farhart,” team’s trainer Shankar Basu said.