Dhawan in hospital before third ODI against England

Out-of-form India opener Shikhar Dhawan on Friday checked into a private hospital after landing in the city for the third and final One-Day International (ODI) against England at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Dhawan, who scored 1 and 11 in the two ODIs in Pune and Cuttack respectively, is going through a lean patch with the bat. He headed to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals after reaching the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

"We cannot confirm the extent of his injury or whether it is just a routine check up right now. But he was here," a hospital official said.

Dhawan was previously injured in the New Zealand ODI series. It opened up a place for Ajinkya Rahane to open the batting with Rohit Sharma, who is himself not playing against England due to injury.

While Rahane managed only 143 runs in five innings, the graceful right-hander made a crisp 91 in the second warm-up match against England.

If Dhawan is ruled out or dropped for the third rubber with the series already in the home team's kitty, leading 2-0 in the three-match series, Rahane might get a look in with the other opener K.L. Rahul who is also struggling to score runs.

--IANS

dm/sam/bg