Dhawan to replace injured Vijay for Lanka Tour

Left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan has been called in as replacement for opener Murali Vijay for the upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

"The All-India Senior Selection Committee on Monday named Shikhar Dhawan as the replacement for injured Murali Vijay in the Test team, which is scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said in a release.

Vijay, who had suffered a wrist injury during Australia's tour of India, has complained of pain in his right wrist, while playing a preparatory match.

"The BCCI medical team has therefore advised that Vijay should continue his rehabilitation program," the BCCI release added.

The right-handed opener had missed only one match against Australia out of India's long home season of 13 Tests and had later revealed he had been playing with a fractured wrist.

Subsequently, he was ruled out of the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and went to the UK for a surgery.

Dhawan, who is a regular in the Indian ODI side, last played a Test for India in 2016 against New Zealand.

The left-handed opener has so far played 23 Tests and averages 38.52. He scored 1464 runs, which included four centuries.

India's tour of Sri Lanka will begin Galle on July 26. Virat Kohli's men will be playing three Tests, five ODIs and one T20I during the series.

The team is as follows: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, W Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, M Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.