In a like-for-like replacement, Axar Patel has been included in place of Ravindra Jadeja who has been suspended for the third Test against Sri Lanka starting here on Saturday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed in a release on Wednesday.
Axar, who played for India ‘A’ in the final of the triangular series against South Africa ‘A’ in Pretoria on Tuesday, is expected to join the Test squad late on Thursday but left-arm chinaman bowler, Kuldeep Yadav, is all but certain to take Jadeja’s place in the playing XI.
The replacement was necessitated after Jadeja was suspended for one Test following a breach of ICC Code of Conduct during the second Test win at the SSC ground last week. With the all-rounder not allowed to be part of the squad, he has returned home since then. It remains to be seen if the Saurashtra player gets picked for the five ODIs and the lone T20I that India will be playing after the Test series.
India squad for third Test: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.
Published 09 August 2017, 20:37 IST