[ad_1]

Offspinner R Ashwin is likely to replace left-arm spinner Axar Patel in India’s final 15 for the 2023 World Cup. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Axar, who left the Asia Cup with a quadriceps strain, needs at least three more weeks to recover fully.

Today is the deadline for teams to make changes – no questions asked – to their World Cup squads, as per the ICC’s regulations. From tomorrow, any further changes will need the consent of the World Cup’s technical committee.

This means Ashwin is set to join Virat Kohli as one of only two players in this squad from India’s World Cup winning squad in 2011.

Ashwin’s inclusion has come as something of a surprise, with things changing quickly. He was not part of the 15-man squad announced by the BCCI in late August. At the time, India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar pointed out that while Ashwin was one of the contenders, the selectors and the team management had opted for Axar, whom they felt provided bating depth. In the Asia Cup, when Axar got injured and returned to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, the BCCI drafted in Washington Sundar as his replacement.

Both Washington and Ashwin were included three-match ODI series against Australia that followed, which India won 2-1. That series was the first time Ashwin, 37, had played for India in ODIs in 18 months.

India’s likely World Cup squad

Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (vice-capt), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, R Ashwin

[ad_2]

Source link