In a major blow to Team India, star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup, however, All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Axar Patel as his replacement in India's squad on Friday (September 2).
Ravindra Jadeja has sustained a right knee injury and is ruled out of the tournament. He is currently under the supervision of the BCCI medical team.
His replacement, Axar Patel was earlier named as one of the standbys in the squad and will join the team in Dubai soon.
"The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Axar Patel as the replacement for Ravindra Jadeja in the ongoing Asia Cup," the BCCI said in a statement.
"Ravindra Jadeja has sustained a right knee injury and is ruled out of the tournament. He is currently under the supervision of the BCCI medical team.
"His replacement, Axar Patel was earlier named as one of the standbys in the squad and will join the team in Dubai soon."
Jadeja played an instrumental role in India's five-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2022's opener as the star all-rounder was the joint top scorer (35 off 29) along with Virat Kohli (35 off 34) for the Team India.
Axar is a similar player to Jadeja, batting left-handed and bowling economical left-arm spin, and has filled in for the senior allrounder on many occasions. But given the importance of Jadeja's role, how well Axar slots into it could be key to India's progress through the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup and beyond.
Jadeja had surpassed former pacer Irfan Pathan to become India's highest wicket-taker in the history of the Asia Cup tournament. Jadeja achieved this feat during his side's Group A tie against Hong Kong in Dubai in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. Jadeja took 23 wickets across six Asia Cup tournaments.
India are scheduled to play their first Super 4 game on Sunday.
Updated India's squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
