Ravichandran Ashwin replaces Axar Patel in India’s final World Cup squad

Veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has replaced Axar Patel in India’s final World Cup squad. Patel suffered a quadriceps injury against Bangladesh in the Super Fours stage of the Asia Cup and thus Ashwin was added to the Indian squad for the three-match ODI series against Australia.

The off-spinner returned with decent figures of 1-47 in the first ODI at Mohali. Ashwin was at his lethal best as he registered figures of 3-41 in the seven overs he bowled against Australia in the second ODI at Indore. The veteran accounted for Marnus Labuschagne, David Warner, and Josh Inglis in his fine spell.

Ashwin brings all the experience to the table and also an off-spin option, which was not there in the initial squad. The spinner from Tamil Nadu has scalped a total of 155 wickets in 115 ODI matches at an average of 33.4.

Earlier, head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma had shown their faith in Ashwin despite a lack of game time in the recent past. However, both Dravid and Sharma are optimistic that Ashwin will be able to deliver at the World Cup stage because of his vast experience.

Ahead of the third ODI against Australia at Rajkot, Rohit said,  “He has got the class and the experience of playing the sport and handling the pressure,” the captain had said. “It is just that he has not played ODIs in the last year or so, but you cannot take away the class and the experience… and in the last couple of games we saw how well he bowled.”

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 8th October.

India’s final World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.