Injuries continue to haunt the Indian players and the latest addition to this list is Jaydev Unadkat, who has suffered a shoulder injury after slipping in a Lucknow Super Giants net session in IPL 2023. Jaydev Unadkat has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL 2023 owing to a left-shoulder injury.
He then was sent to Mumbai for scans and visited one of the specialist consultants appointed by the BCCI.
Unadkat is also part of the India squad for the WTC Final against Australia, starting June 7 at the Oval. It is unclear whether the left-arm pacer from Saurashtra will be fit in time for the WTC Final 2023.
He was also in contention to start in the WTC Final along with Shami and Siraj as his left-arm angle, and ability to swing the ball would have been crucial.
In case Unadkat fails to be fit in time for the mega-clash against Australia, the selectors will need to have a couple of names in their minds to replace Unadkat within the squad.
Here are 2 replacement fast bowlers options if Jaydev Unadkat is not fit for WTC Final 2023:
Ishant Sharma
India have gone back to Ajinkya Rahane for this one-off Test match that is the WTC final. So some fans are wondering why not also bring back the veteran seamer Ishant Sharma in case Unadkat is not fit?
Ishant featured in 8 Tests in 2021 with only 14 wickets to show and was dropped from the Test squad in early 2022. However, his experience in the English conditions is unmatchable: no Indian fast bowler has played more matches than Ishan’t 15 Tests and taken more wickets than his 51 wickets in England. Not even Kapil Dev and not Shami.
Akash Deep
While most fans would know Akash Deep from his stints with RCB in the IPL 2022 and IPL 2023, the 26-year-old has made a name for himself in the domestic circuit. Born in Bihar, Akash plays for Bengal in domestic cricket and had a terrific Ranji 2022/23 season.
A pace-bowling all-rounder, Deep was the top wicket-taker among pacers in the Ranji Trophy 2022/23 season with 41 wickets in 10 first-class matches at a brilliant average of 20. He took 3 five-wicket innings haul and a 10-wicket match haul this season.
