Axar Patel ruled out of T20I series vs South Africa; replacement named

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Monday, December 15, announced that the bowling all-rounder Axar Patel has been ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa due to illness.

The BCCI statement also included that Axar Patel will continue to stay with the team in Lucknow, where he will be further medically assessed. Also, the statement revealed that the men’s selection committee has named Shahbaz Ahmed as his replacement for the last T20Is.

Notably, Axar had already missed the third T20I in Dharamsala for undisclosed reasons. Also, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah was unavailable for the third T20I due to personal reasons. India went with Kuldeep Yadav and Harshit Rana as their replacements and bagged a comfortable seven-wicket win.

Delving into the details of Axar Patel’s performances in the first two T20Is against South Africa, he scored 23 runs off 21 balls and picked up two wickets in the first T20I. In the second T20I, he accumulated 21 runs off 21 balls and scalped a wicket in his three-over spell.

On the other hand, all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed played for Team India in three ODIs and two T20Is. His last international game came against Afghanistan at the Asia Games 2023 in October. India is currently in Lucknow for the fourth T20I, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 17. 

India’s updated squad for the last two T20Is vs SA: 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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