Young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was on Wednesday brought in as standby for the injured Shikhar Dhawan in India's World Cup squad.
Pant, whose omission from the original squad became a topic of heated debates given his stupendous form in the past one year, will reach Nottingham on Wednesday.
His arrival will be a day before India's game against New Zealand and he won't be considered a replacement till the time the team management takes a final call on Dhawan's availability for the rest of the tournament.
As of now, the team management has not asked for any replacement for Dhawan and are hoping that he could recover for the business end of the tournament. Pant has been called up as a standby incase Dhawan's injury takes time to heal or his recovery doesn't go to plans.
Since India play Afghanistan on June 22 in Southampton, which is six days after the Pakistan game in Manchester on June 16, Dhawan will get at least 11 days to recover.
Even if Dhawan misses the Afghanistan game, the next match against West Indies in Manchester, which is on June 27, gives him another six days to recover.
Dhawan was the hero of India's win over Australia on Sunday with a knock of 117 off 109 balls.
"Rishabh Pant is being flown in from India as cover at the request of the team management," a senior BCCI official currently in England said.
The 21-year-old impressed with Test hundreds during the tours of England and Australia earlier and was in fine form during the Indian Premier League last month.
Several former players such as Sunil Gavaskar advocated for his inclusion in the squad if Dhawan fails to recover quickly enough for India. Dhawan has been ruled out of three matches due to a hairline fracture on his left thumb which he sustained during his match-winning hundred in the clash against Australia on Sunday.
"...Dhawan is presently under the observation of the BCCI medical team. The team management has decided that Dhawan will continue to be in England and his progress will be monitored," the Indian team said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Dhawan sustained an injury on the back of his left hand in the region between the index finger and thumb...," it added.
