Asia Cup: Ravindra Jadeja ruled out, India name replacement
Jadeja played a vital role in India’s win over Pakistan
Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup and India have named Axar Patel his replacement.
Jadeja has sustained a right knee injury and is currently under the supervision of the BCCI's medical team, according to a press release from the Indian cricket board.
All-rounder Axar was named among the reserves for the Asia Cup along with Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer. Axar will soon join the Indian cricket team in Dubai.
Jadeja played a vital role in India's five-wicket win over Pakistan in their Asia Cup opener last month. He scored a 29-ball 35, including two sixes and as many fours and he was involved in a match-winning partnership with Hardik Pandya. The two said all-rounders put up 52 runs for the fifth wicket. While Jadeja did not pick any wicket, he was economical, giving away just 11 runs in his quota of two overs.
In the match against Hong Kong, Jadeja did not get a chance to bat, but he made significant contributions with the ball. He finished with figures of 15 for 1 in four overs.
Meanwhile, Axar has been a part of Team India's last three tours, which were in England, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. He has bagged at least one wicket in his last seven limited-overs games. He has also been impressive with the bat on occasions. During India's second ODI in the Caribbean, Axar scored a 35-ball 64 and helped India successfully chase down 312 with two wickets to spare.
Having made his T20I debut in 2015, Axar has picked up 21 wickets in 25 T20Is so far for India. He has also scored 147 runs at a strike rate of 137.38.
India's next game is scheduled to take place on Sunday (Sept. 4) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and they will face off against the winner of tonight's match between Pakistan and Hong Kong.
India's squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan