Huge setback for Team India, star all-rounder ruled out of remainder of T20I series against South Africa

In a huge setback for Team India, all-rounder Axar Patel has been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is of the five-T20I series against South Africa due to illness. Patel did not feature in the third T20I of the series on December 14 in Dharamsala against the Proteas as well.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to announce Patel’s replacement for the ongoing T20I series.

On December 14, Jasprit Bumrah returned home due to personal reasons. An official statement on whether he will be available for the fourth T20I is yet to come.

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The fourth T20I of the series will take place at Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium on December 17.

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India’s T20I squad vs South Africa

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah.

How Axar performed in T20Is vs South Africa

In the first two T20Is, the southpaw scored 44 runs and picked up three wickets. In the series opener, he took two wickets for just seven runs from two overs as South Africa were bowled out for 74. India won the game by 101 runs. In the second T20I, he bowled three overs, conceded 27 runs and picked up a wicket. In the run chase of 214, he was sent to bat at no.3 and contributed with a run-a-ball 21.

Who will replace Axar Patel?

While a replacement is yet to be named, Washington Sundar is an option in the existing lineup. The only issue is that Sundar is not like-for-like replacement for Axar as the latter is a left-arm spinner.

Indian team management will hope that Axar recovers ahead of the limited-overs series against New Zealand which is scheduled to start on January 11. New Zealand's white-ball tour includes three ODIs and five T20Is.