Vijay Shankar, the Indian all-rounder, was on Monday ruled out of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 because of a toe injury and is likely to be replaced by Mayank Agarwal, who is yet to make his ODI debut.

Shankar is the second Indian player to be ruled out of the tournament after opener Shikhar Dhawan exited due to a thumb fracture sustained in the game against Australia. Rishabh Pant had replaced him.

“Vijay Shankar sustained a non displaced fracture of the left big toe, which will require a minimum of three weeks to heal. The injury rules him out of the ongoing World Cup. The Indian team management has requested the ICC to consider Mayank Agarwal as his replacement,” the BCCI’s media cell said.

Karnataka opener Agarwal, who made his Test debut against Australia last year, is yet to play an ODI. Sources said his performance in England during the last A series under Rahul Dravid’s coaching has been factored in while deciding his name.

India A won the ODI tri-series involving England Lions and West Indies A with Mayank and Prithvi Shaw topping the batting charts.

“The Indian team management has asked for Mayank Agarwal as a replacement since he is an opener and also it might give K.L. Rahul a chance to get back to the No.4 position in case Rishabh Pant fails in the next two games,” a source said.

Rohit Sharma had talked about Shankar’s injury on Sunday but it was presumed to be an old hit that he took at Southampton. It now seems that Shankar’s toe injury has aggravated after playing against Afghanistan and West Indies.

“There is no uncertainty with regard to the No. 4 position. Vijay Shankar was supposed to play but before the match, he got hit on the toe by Jasprit (Bumrah) and he wasn’t fit. Every team will have these one or two changes happening every now and then,” the source said after India lost to England.

Shankar scored 29 against Afghanistan and 16 against West Indies. He also got a couple of important wickets against Pakistan.

It is expected that Agarwal’s name will be approved by the ICC’s tournament technical committee.

Indians took to Twitter to air their opinions about Shankar’s injury. Many cracked jokes on who the replacement should’ve been, including making jibes at BJP leader Akash Vijayvargiya and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav:

Experts, however, commented in a more serious tone on the change. Former cricketer Aakash Chopra pointed out how when an opener was injured, a middle order batsman was called upon and now that a middle order batsman is hurt, a opener is replacing him:

Others commented on how lethal Bumrah could be, even to Indian batsmen on the nets. It was his yorker that injured Shankar and sent him packing home:

For several on Twitter, however, the player of choice was Ambati Rayudu, and not Agarwal. Rayudu was for long India’s batsman at No. 4. However, he was dropped in favour of Shankar after some poor performances: