NEW DELHI: As expected, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who had played only two ODIs since 2017 before being picked for the ODI series against Australia, replaced Axar Patel in Team India squad on Thursday as the latter didn't regain full fitness.
The writing was there on the wall when Axar failed to recover on time for the third ODI against Australia in Rajkot.
Ashwin gave a good account of his skills in the first two ODIs against Australia before being rested for the final game in Rajkot.
Ashwin took 1 wicket in the first ODI in Mohali on Friday and 3 wickets in the second match against Australia in Indore on Sunday.
"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," ICC stated in a media release.
"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," the release further stated.
Axar suffered the injury in India's Asia Cup Super Four loss to Bangladesh where the bowling all-rounder took a wicket and scored 42 runs.
Ashwin travelled with the Indian team to Guwahati where they will play the first warm-up game against England on Saturday, September 30.
Two-time champions and hosts India open their World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8 in Chennai.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, 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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