Spin all-rounder Axar Patel has lost his place in the Men in Blue’s final 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup owing to a left quadriceps strain.
While Axar was named in the preliminary squad, he was replaced by veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Axar picked up the injury during India’s Super 4 clash against Bangladesh at the Asia Cup 2023 earlier this month.
The all-rounder was not included in the squad for the first two ODIs of India’s recently concluded home series against Australia. He was on the roster for the final fixture. However, he was later ruled out as he failed to recover from his injury.
Several experts and fans took to social media after Axar failed to make it to the Indian team for the mega event.
“Gutted for Axar though. Really unfortunate injury. He did everything to cement his place in the team with both bat and ball, and would have been a certainty in the XI for most games. Comeback stronger @akshar2026,” wrote former India opener Wasim Jaffer on X (earlier known as Twitter).
“So unfortunate after doing everything in last 12-18 months. He made a spot in the side even though a champion like Jadeja is in the team. Speaks volume of how good he was performing. He was batting so well that he could just be selected as a batter in the team,” wrote another fan.
“The replacement is still a quite shocking. @ashwinravi99 not being in Playing XI for most of the games played recently and with unknown form of his, it’s really unpredictable,” a third user commented.