Dhawan ruled out of NZ T20 series

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the upcoming five T20Is against New Zealand because of the left shoulder injury he picked up during the 3rd ODI vs Australia in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Dhawan's absence from the Indian squad that left for New Zealand on Monday, was suggestive of the fact that he might not be available for the T20I series.

Dhawan did not come out to open India innings after he injured his left shoulder in the series-deciding third ODI between India and Australia. The left-handed batsman was taken for scans for his injury as KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma opened for India.

Dhawan dived to save an Aaron Finch shot in the cover region and ended up hurting his left shoulder in the fifth over. Dhawan walked off the field after getting hurt and was later taken for an X-Ray.

The 34-year-old was already in pain before coming into the series decider as he was hit on the rib cage by a Pat Cummins bouncer while batting in the 2nd ODI against Australia on Friday as he did not take the field during the entire Australia innings.

Dhawan was hit in the 10th over of the Indian innings. While he was in considerable pain and needed medical attention, he decided to carry on batting, scoring a fluent 96 in India's total of 340 for six.

Ironically, it was against Australia in the World Cup that Dhawan had sustained a fractured thumb after being hit by a rising delivery from Nathan Coulter-Nile.