Ish Sodhi named replacement as Astle ruled out of India series

Todd Astle who was set to make his long-awaited debut in the ODI series against India has been ruled out due to injury. The leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has been drafted into the One-Day squad which is playing the second and final warm-up game on Thursday. He was originally only included in the T20I squad as the all-round skills of Astle were preferred over his wrist spin. Todd Astle injured himself during the first warm-up game on Tuesday and could bowl only 3 balls into his spell.

Todd Astle was in good form in the recently concluded One-Day series against India A on the basis of which he was picked in the team. He had scalped six wickets at an average of 27.83 which also included 4/22 in the second game which was tied. But he suffered a groin strain and scans confirmed a tear on his right side which eventually ruled him out of the action for three weeks. The 31-year-old must be feeling gutted as he had worked so hard for this well-deserved opportunity.

We are feeling bad for him

The coach of the Kiwis Mike Hesson confirmed the news of Todd Astle being ruled out of the series and was disappointed for him. “Todd was really impressive in the recent New Zealand A tour over here and had done everything he possibly could to get himself ready for this series. He deserved this opportunity and everyone in the team is certainly feeling for Todd. He’ll return to New Zealand and get himself ready for a big summer,” he said.

The three-match ODI series between India and New Zealand will commence from October 22 in Mumbai at Wankhede Stadium. The teams will then travel to Pune and Kanpur for the remaining two games which will be followed by the most popular format of cricket. The T20I series will start from November 1 in Delhi and the tour concludes on 7th of the same month in Thiruvananthapuram.