NEW DELHI: India have predictably named veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as a replacement for injured spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel in their 15-member squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup, the ICC announced on Thursday.
Axar had sustained a quadriceps tear and is not expected to recover anytime soon, forcing the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to name the 37-year-old Ashwin, who took four wickets in the two ODIs during the recently concluded series against Australia, in the squad.
"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," the 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.
The writing was there on the wall when Axar failed to recover on time for the third ODI against Australia in Rajkot.
Ashwin travelled with the Indian team to Guwahati where they will play the first warm-up game against England on Saturday, September 30.
Ashwin has grabbed 155 wickets from 114 ODIs and he took 1/47 and 3/41 in the first two ODIs versus Australia.
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Comeback no one had envisaged
When India had named both Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in their 15-member WC squad, there were talks about sameness in their bowling skill-sets and it was the batting ability that got Jadeja's understudy a nod.
Axar's abilities as a bowler on good batting tracks has been limited but obviously when he couldn't get any purchase against Sri Lanka in an Asia Cup game on a Khettarama track that was closest to rank-turner, there were apprehensions about the choice made by the management.
A part-timer like Charith Asalanka got four wickets on that very track would have made people wonder if Ashwin could be included in India's WC squad and it needed a divine intervention.
No one would like to see a cricketer getting injured.
But Axar's reported quadriceps tear possibly was 'His' way of urging the team management to do a course correction and they finally did it by recalling Ashwin even though it was Washington Sundar, who was called for the Asia Cup final.
The team knew that there was no substitute for experience.
Hence the talk about Ashwin's utility never seemed to fade away and the fact that most of the top teams have quality left-handers in its top and middle-order.
England has Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali while Australia will have David Warner, Travis Head and Alex Carey in its ranks.
Pakistan's top-order comprises Imam-ul Haq, Fakhar Zaman and New Zealand have two compact players in Devon Conway and Tom Latham.
South Africa boasts of Quinton de Kock, David Miller in their set-up.
So, Ashwin's presence will certainly work to India's advantage.
There has been a strange scenario about Ashwin.
He was dropped for good from India's white ball scheme of things after the fateful 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan, where he got clobbered.
He was nowhere in contention in the next few years before he suddenly returned to the mix during the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE where he got to play against some of the minnows.
That was a comeback in T20 cricket after four years and he was around till the 2022 edition before Jos Buttler and Alex Hales took him to cleaners at Adelaide.
During the same period, he was picked for ODIs in South Africa and Aiden Markram's side played him with ease.
Ashwin makes a very compelling case for himself and if he gets a chance ahead of Kuldeep Yadav in any of the games, he would put his best foot forward.
But the test will be on a high pressure day on a placid track.
Will Ashwin be as potent with a white kookaburra as he is with the red SG in Tests?
We need to wait and see.
India World Cup squad: 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.
