Axar Patel Ruled Out of Final Two T20Is Against SA; Shahbaz Ahmed Steps In

India had no choice but to make a change to their squad before the two remaining T20s against South Africa, as Axar Patel was ruled out due to illness. The BCCI named Shahbaz Ahmed as his replacement for the remainder of the series.

"He [Axar] is with the team in Lucknow [the venue for the fourth T20I], where he will be further medically assessed," the BCCI stated. Axar had already missed the third T20I in Dharamshala, where India were also without Jasprit Bumrah due to personal reasons. India brought in Kuldeep Yadav and Harshit Rana for that match and won by seven wickets.

The performances of Axar in the first two games were mixed. He scored 23 off 21 in Cuttack and took 2 for 7. In New Chandigarh, he returned figures of 1 for 27 in three overs and, batting at No. 3, made a run-a-ball 21.

Shahbaz’s final match for India was in the 2023 Asian Games final against Afghanistan in Hangzhou. In the current Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he scored 60 runs in five matches, at a strike rate of 133.33 and four wickets with an economy rate of 8.25 on behalf of Bengal.

After the fourth T20I in Lucknow, both teams will travel to Ahmedabad for the final game of the five-match series. India currently leads the series 2-1 and will look to finish strongly.

India’s updated squad for the last two T20Is:

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill (vice-capt), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed