ICC World Cup 2019 | Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel in line if Kedar Jadhav fails to recover in time

ICC World Cup 2019 | Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel in line if Kedar Jadhav fails to recover in time

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BCCI

A BCCI source has revealed that Ambati Rayudu and Axar Patel have equal chance of making it to the Indian team for the World Cup if Kedar Jadhav doesn’t recover in time. He has also added that by naming Rishabh Pant in the India A team for the Windies tour, selectors have given a clear indication.

Jadhav picked up a shoulder injury while fielding during Chennai Super Kings' last league game against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL and was instantly ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. Although India decided to keep his World Cup spot safe after discussion with team physio, the situation has hardly improved since then and the national selection committee is under pressure to have a replacement ready. While many thought it would be Rishabh Pant, a recent report revealed that Rayudu and Patel are the frontrunners for the role.

“The BCCI national selectors have been kept apprised of Jadhav’s recovery process on a day-to-day basis. They are keeping a very close eye on his fitness in conjunction with physio Farhart. It’s too early to say whether Jadhav will be fit enough to take part in the tournament but call on that will be taken next week, probably as late as the departure date of the Indian team which is May 22,” a BCCI source informed CricketNext on Wednesday.

To manage the workload, the BCCI has asked Pant to take rest for now and considering the fact that the wicket-keeper is already on the standby list, he may make it to the side. But the BCCI official claims that naming Pant in India ‘A’ team’s ODI games against West Indies ‘A’ on Tuesday, the selectors have given a clear indication of not having him in the team.

“The selectors had nominated five standbys to cover all bases. Since Jadhav is a specialist batsman, the selectors are looking at replacing him with either Ambati Rayudu or Axar Patel, who like Jadhav can chip in with a few overs as well.

“The other three standbys are Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini. By naming Pant in India ‘A’ team’s ODI games against West Indies ‘A’ on Tuesday, the selectors have given a clear indication that for now, they want the Delhi wicket-keeper to focus on Indian senior team’s West Indies tour which will follow immediately after the World Cup,” the source added.

India will travel to the United Kingdom on May 22 and will play their first warm-up game just a couple of days after that.

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