Selectors to give Kedar Jadhav time to recover for World Cup

While Kedar Jadhav's injury looked scary initially, the medical staff is optimistic over his availability for India’s World Cup opener versus South Africa on June 5.

Patrick Farhart, India's physiotherapist, assessed Kedar Jadhav in Chennai on Tuesday and has advised the diminutive dasher to wear a sling for at least a week. (FILE IMAGE)

The national selection panel has adopted a wait-and-watch approach over Kedar Jadhav’s fitness ahead of the World Cup 2019.

The middle-order batsman and a back-up spin option injured his left shoulder during Chennai Super Kings’ Indian Premier League tie versus Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on Sunday.

While the injury, suffered when Jadhav dived on the boundary line to stop a four , looked scary initially, team India's medical staff is optimistic over Jadhav’s availability for India’s World Cup opener versus South Africa on June 5.

Sportstar understands that Patrick Farhart, India's physiotherapist, assessed Jadhav in Chennai on Tuesday and has advised the diminutive dasher to wear a sling for at least a week.

Besides the medical team’s advice, the tournament rules also give the national selectors a window of waiting to see if Jadhav — a proven finisher and partnership-breaker — recovers for the tournament.

Related: What Jadhav brings to Team India

Changes to the provisional squad — announced on April 15 — can be made till May 23. As a result, the national selectors have decided to exploit it and give Jadhav ample time to recover and prove his fitness ahead of India’s departure on May 22.

If Jadhav doesn’t recover, the selectors could be in a quandary over whether to pick Ambati Rayudu as a specialist batsman or Axar Patel as an all-rounder from the five standbys shortlisted for the World Cup.

The other three standbys are wicket-keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and pacers Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini.