Axar Patel hurts his ankle ahead of the 1st ODI in Chennai

The Indian team has landed in Chennai, they had a bit of a break after the Sri Lanka tour and it’s time for action once again. Ahead of the first ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the team was practising at Chepauk on Friday and as a part of their regular training routine, they were playing a game of football. Amidst that left-arm spinner, Axar Patel looked uncomfortable and limped his way out of the ground.

Patrick Farhat, the physio of the Indian team immediately addressed him and as it turns out Axar sprained his ankle. The physio strapped his ankle and he appeared to still be in discomfort. There is no official news from the team management about his availability or otherwise and it remains to be seen if the Indian skipper or a team representative at the pre-match press conference later today throws some light on the matter.

Team India had earlier lost their preferred opener Shikhar Dhawan, who opted out of the first three ODIs against Australia since he had to be with his wife who isn’t well. Dhawan had also missed the 5th ODI and one-off T20I on the tour of Sri Lanka to spend some time with his ailing mother. The selectors didn’t announce a replacement in either case.

In his absence, the team has two options for the opening slot with Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul in the squad. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma addressing the media in Chennai yesterday clarified that Rahul’s place in the team is that as a middle-order batsman and it is Rahane who is the backup opener and will take Dhawan’s place.

As for the spin department, the selectors picked Axar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal for the series. While it was expected to be a toss between the two wrist spinners Axar’s place in the team as the add-on all-rounder was almost certain. It will be interesting to see what kind of combination Virat Kohli fields in Chennai given it has a traditionally slow wicket that tends to help the spinners.

India squad for first 3 ODIs against Australia:

Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.