ODI World Cup 2023: R Ashwin replaces this star bowler in Team India’s final WC squad; know reason

After growing anticipation, the final Team India squad for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023 has been announced, with the playing XI set to be led by captain Rohit Sharma. However, in a surprise move, Ravichandran Ashwin has replaced a star bowled in the team at the last minute.

R Ashwin has replaced all-rounder bowler Axar Patel in India’s World Cup squad at the last minute. Patel was named in the provisional squad and had delivered a solid performance in Asia Cup 2023, but now veteran pacer Ashwin will take his place.

Axar Patel was named as part of Rohit Sharma’s squad ahead of the Asia Cup 2023, but had suffered an injury during the tournament, and is thus being replaced by R Ashwin. Ashwin has already landed in Guwahati with the rest of the national team, set to play the first warm-up match against England on September 30.

The final 15 in the Team India world cup squad are –

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

It is expected that due to the injury suffered by Axar Patel during the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh on September 15, the bowler could be out of action for at least three weeks. The decision to not include him in the final squad came at the last minute.

This will be the third time that R Ashwin has been made part of the ODI World Cup squad three times now, with this being the second time playing the tournament at home ground. Ashwin was in the winning squad of Team India 2011, then again in 2015 but was snubbed by selectors in 2019.

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