The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named left-arm spinner-all-rounder Axar Patel as a like-for-like replacement for injured all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for the rest of India's campaign in the ongoing Asia Cup in the UAE.
Jadeja had played in India's both Group A matches against Pakistan and Hong Kong in Dubai. Against Pakistan, after 0/11 with two overs of left-arm spin, he was promoted to batting at number four and made a crucial 35 off 29 balls and shared a 52-run stand with Hardik Pandya (33 not out off 17 balls) to see India home in a chase of 148.
Though Jadeja didn't get to bat against Hong Kong, he had outstanding figures of 1/15 in his four overs at an economy rate of 3.75, effectively applying brakes on the scoring rate in defence of 192."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," said the BCCI in an official statement.
It's not the first time this year that Jadeja has been troubled by a right knee injury. A similar injury had forced him to give a miss to India's ODI leg of the tour of the West Indies in July, with Patel featuring in all three matches as his like-for-like replacement. In 25 T20Is, Patel has scored 147 runs and picked 21 wickets.
After topping Group A in Asia Cup 2022 by winning matches against Pakistan and Hong Kong, India have progressed to the Super Four stage and are now scheduled to play their next match on Sunday.
India's squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), K.L Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan