India all-rounder Axar Patel has been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is of the ongoing five-match series against South Africa due to illness. Shahbaz Ahmed has been drafted in the squad as Axar’s replacement.
After playing the first two T20I, Axar missed out on the selection for the third T20I in Dharamshala, which paved the way for Kuldeep Yadav to play his first game of the series on his birthday.
The BCCI revealed that Axar will be further assessed in Lucknow, the venue for the fourth T20I, where he is present with the rest of the squad.
“He is with the team in Lucknow where he will be further medically assessed,” the BCCI media release stated.
Shahaz has been called-up as like-to-like replacement of Axar. The 31-year-old spin bowling all-rounder has played five international matches for India so far. His last recent appearance for the Men in Blue coming in the Asian Games in October 2023.
Along with Axar, India pace bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah also missed out on selection for the third game. Unlike Axar’s case, the right-arm fast bowler had returned home for personal reasons. Although he’s named in the squad but there are doubts over his participation for the remainder of the series.
India’s updated squad for last two T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed
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