Senior India off-spinner R Ashwin has made an entry into India’s 15-man World Cup 2023 squad. He replaces Axar Patel in the squad, the ICC confirmed on Thursday evening.
Axar had been named in India’s 15-man provisional squad for the World Cup. However, his injury and R Ashwin’s good comeback performances, plus Ashwin offering an off-spin variety option in the squad, meant that the 37-year-old replaced the left-arm spinning all-rounder.
The ICC said: “Axar Patel has failed to recover in time for the World Cup after sustaining a left quadriceps strain during India’s Asia Cup Super Four encounter against Bangladesh. The spin-bowling all-rounder missed the final of the Asia Cup as a result.
Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named his replacement, who was impressive on his return to ODI cricket in the recently concluded series against Australia where he picked up four wickets in two games.”
Why has R Ashwin replaced Axar Patel in World Cup squad?
Although Axar was expected to get fit by the time of India’s first match against Australia in Chennai on October 8, the management and selectors didn’t want to take any risks as India are expected to field three spinners – Kuldeep, Jadeja, and now Ashwin – on the spin-friendly Chennai pitch.
R Ashwin, who hadn’t played in ODIs since January 2022, was recalled for the recently concluded series against Australia.
In the two high-scoring ODIs in Mohali and Indore against Australia, Ashwin returned with figures of 1/47 and 3/41, which included wickets of David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne (twice), and Josh Inglis. Moreover, it was his skills and mastery he showed over his variations – Ashwin dismissed Warner and Labuschagne with two variations of carrom ball in Indore – that would’ve impressed the management and selectors that Ashwin is back to his best in white-ball cricket too.
This makes Ashwin and Virat Kohli the only two players from the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian squad to feature in the 2023 World Cup too. If India win the World Cup this year, Ashwin and Kohli will become the only two Indians to win two ODI World Cups, and enter a category of few players who have won the ODI WC twice.
India will play two warm-up matches: vs England on September 30 in Guwahati and vs Netherlands on October 3 in Thiruvananthapuram.
India World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.
