ICC announce confirmed World Cup squads on deadline day, Ashwin replaces Axar Patel

The confirmed World Cup squads of all the 10 participating teams have been announced. The International Cricket Council (ICC) have revealed the final squads list. The major changes in squads have come from Team India and Australia. Ravichandran Ashwin replaced all-rounder Axar Patel in the squad as latter failed to recover from quadriceps strain on time. Meanwhile, Australia included Marnus Labuchagne in place of injured Aston Agar.

Notably. India Cricket Team can call up players with approval from the ICC’s technical committee for the World Cup as a replacement for any injured player.

BCCI Selection Committee chairman Ajit Agarkar had a long discussion with captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid after the practice session ahead of India vs Australia 3rd ODI.

I really hope these 3 will utilise Virat Kohli well.

He's our main weapon in the world cup.

Though Ajit Agarkar has always failed Rahul Dravid, even when he was the skipper.#IndvAus #ImranKhan #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/e75D3jtuN8

— Kumaril bhatt (@BhattKumaril) September 26, 2023

Axar Patel suffered a left quadriceps strain against Bangladesh in Asia Cup. He was sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. While there were hopes that he would be fit for the 3rd ODI against Australia, he has not recovered sufficiently.

Ashwin returns for third stint in ODI World Cup

This will be Ravichandran Ashwin’s third ODI World Cup. He was part of the World Cup-winning Indian squad in 2011 and was included in 2015 World Cup as well. Notably, the off-spinner was not in ODI plans for long and Axar took his chances with match-winning performances. But with the all-rounder injured, Team India sent an SOS to Ravichandran Ashwin for the Australia series.

While Ashwin did start slowly and looked rusty in the first ODI, he bounced back in the second ODI in Indore. He bagged three wickets in a span of seven deliveries including three big names David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Inglis to prove he is ready.

And as a result, with Axar Patel ruled out Ashwin was picked.

Is Ashwin a good choice?

• At home, Ashwin has 69 ODI wickets 337 Test wickets and 22 scalps in T20Is.
• In terms of experience and ability to turn the ball, there is no match.
• He can provide stability down the order and can be handy with the bat.

India Squad for Cricket World Cup 2023

Batters: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav

WKs: Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul (VC)

Seam all-rounders: Shardul Thakur

Spin all-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin

Seamers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Spinner: Kuldeep Yadav