Shikhar Dhawan to miss Australia ODIs, will attend unwell wife

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan will not be part of Virat Kohli's Team India for the first three of the five-match ODI series agaisnt Australia, starting September 17 in Chennai.

The 31-year-old has been released from the 16-member ODI squad by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as he will attend his unwell wife.

"Team India opener Mr Shikhar Dhawan has requested to be released from the team for the first three ODIs of the Paytm Australia tour of India, 2017 to attend to his wife, who is unwell. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has decided not to name any replacement for Mr Dhawan in Indian Cricket Team," a statement from BCCI read.

The BCCI has not announced a replacement for Dhawan yet.

Notably, the left-hander also also missed the final ODI of a five-match series and the one-off T20I earlier this month in Sri Lanka as he flew back to India to take care of his ailing mother. Dhawan later took to Twitter to reveal his mother had recovered well.

Dhawan's absence will come as a huge blow to India's chances as he has been in fine form in the 50-over format. The Delhi dasher smashed three centuries (two in Tests and one in the Dambulla ODI) during the recent series agaisnt Sri Lanka.

Also, Dhawan has been one of the most consistent Indian batsmen agaisnt the Australians. The opener has amassed 626 runs from 15 matches at an average of 44.71 agaisnt the world champions.

The team for first three ODIs against Australia is as follows:

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.