MS Dhoni missing the 1st Test against Australia due to hairline crack in right thumb

MS Dhoni will miss the 1^st Test against Australia due to an injury on his right thumb

There wasn’t too much clarity over the exact nature of MS Dhoni’s injury ever since it was announced a couple of days back that he will miss the 1^st Test against Australia in Brisbane on December 4. But it has now emerged that the injury which has sidelined the Indian skipper from the ongoing 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka as well as the start of the Australian Tests is, in fact, a hairline crack at the base of his right thumb.

Given that the ICC Cricket World Cup is now less than 100 days away, the decision to not play Dhoni in the 1^st Test was taken on a precautionary note, a source told ESPNcricinfo.

"He could well have risked playing in Brisbane but eventually it was decided against playing him in the opening Test since nobody wants the injury to recur or aggravate with the World Cup set to start in a little over two months after the Brisbane Test," a source said.

Dhoni was apparently carrying the injury during the recent ODI series against West Indies, and it only became worse thereafter. The BCCI, however, while selecting the squad for the 1^st 3 ODIs against Sri Lanka, chose not to make much of his injury, stating that Dhoni was being merely “rested”.

But it soon became evident that there was more to it than meets the eye, with Kohli stopping over in Mumbai, along with coach Duncan Fletcher, for the Australia selection meeting the morning after captaining his side to a 3-0 ODI series victory against the Lankans in Hyderabad. The rest of the team, meanwhile, moved on to Kolkata to prepare for the 4^th ODI.

The team for the remaining 2 Sri Lanka ODIs was also to be picked at the meeting, but the selectors specifically wanted him to be present in order to discuss selections for the Australia Test series as he will be in charge of the team for the 1^st 3 weeks of the tour. The BCCI also clarified that the strength of the squad for Australia is 18 members, as opposed to 19 as was initially thought, with Dhoni joining the team only on the completion of the Brisbane Test.