Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was included in India's Cricket World Cup 2023 squad in place of the injured Axar Patel. Axar suffered the injury during the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 match against Bangladesh and the all-rounder failed to recover in time for the competition. Ashwin was included in the Indian cricket team for the recently concluded ODI series against Australia and he ended up taking four wickets in the two matches. Ashwin join Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav as India's spin options for the tournament. India will play their first match of the competition against Australia on October 8.
"India have been forced to make a late change to their 15-member squad for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. 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," the ICC website stated.
This will be the third World Cup for Ashwin who featured in the 2011 and 2015 editions.
India's squad for Cricket World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (c), 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.