Chennai: All-rounder Vijay Shankar has been ruled out of the remainder of the ICC Cricket World Cup after he suffered a toe fracture.
Vijay was struck on his left boot by a Jasprit Bumrah yorker during a practice session nearly a week ago. But the injury was not expected to be a serious one and Shankar played matches against Afghanistan and West Indies but the injury flared up before India’s last game versus England, which the hosts won comfortably, handing India their first loss of the tournament.
Vijay did not play in the match and Rishabh Pant replaced him in the playing 11.
“Vijay sustained a non-displaced fracture of the left big toe, which will require a minimum of three weeks to heal. The injury rules him out of the ongoing World Cup,” a BCCI media release said.
Vijay Shankar was drafted into the World Cup squad primarily to play at No. 4 ahead of Ambati Rayudu. He pipped Rayudu as he can also chip in a few overs as a medium pacer.
After warming the bench for two games, Vijay got an opportunity in the playing 11 in the World Cup after Shikhar Dhawan’s injury forced K L Rahul to open the innings. He made his World Cup debut against Pakistan and scored 15 runs in the game batting at No. 6. He also took a wicket off his first ball World Cup, becoming the only third player in the world to do so.
However, he got an opportunity to bowl only in that match as after that he was used primarily as a batsman at No. 4. He scored only 43 runs in the next two matches before missing the last game.
Mayank Agarwal has been named as Vijay’s replacement and he is expected to join the squad later this week. Mayank is yet to make his ODI debut and has so far played only two Test matches for India.