Veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has been included in the Indian squad for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, with Axar Patel missing out owing to an injury. With the inclusion of Ashwin, who was also a part of the 2011 World Cup-winning side, India have confirmed their fifteen-member squad for the competition.
“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,” a report from ICC read.
Axar, who was a part of the Indian team in their title-winning Asia Cup campaign in Sri Lanka recently, was initially expected to recuperate from his quadriceps strain in time for the World Cup. Accordingly, he was also optionally named in India’s squad for the last of the recently concluded three-match ODI series against Australia.
However, it is now officially confirmed that the 29-year-old could not make the cut, opening up an opportunity for Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spinner made his ODI World Cup debut in 2011, where he played a couple of matches and picked up four wickets.
He was also a part of India’s next World Cup campaign, in 2015, but was not involved in the 2019 World Cup. Between July 2017 to December 2021, Ashwin did not feature in ODI cricket at all, with the team then opting to go a separate way with the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav playing a more effective role in white-ball cricket.
Strange Revival of Ashwin’s ODI Career
However, he made a comeback in January last year, playing two ODIs against South Africa. While he could only pick one wicket in those two matches and then did not feature again for the next year and a half, he was called into the team for the three-match ODI series against Australia.
Ashwin made an ODI comeback this month, after a 20-month absence from the format.
(Photo: BCCI)
Ashwin did well in those matches, picking up one wicket in the first ODI in Mohali, and then registering a three-fer on what was a batting deck at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.
Ashwin is only the second member in the current Indian team who was a part of the ‘class of 2011’, with Virat Kohli being the other player.
India's Squad For 2023 World Cup:
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.
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