India's Ashwin replaces injured Axar in World Cup squad

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named in India's 15-man squad for the World Cup on home soil after initially failing to make the cut, coming in as a replacement for the injured Axar Patel.

Ashwin, India's preferred spinner in test cricket, was a regular in the one-day international side until June 2017 but he has played only four ODIs since, including two matches against Australia in the series earlier this month.

The 37-year-old made the cut and is in the official squad list announced by the International Cricket Council after Axar, who also missed the Asia Cup due to a quadriceps strain, failed to recover in time.

Ashwin and Virat Kohli are the only two members of the squad that won the World Cup in 2011, when India were hosts.

Thursday was the ICC deadline for teams to finalise their 15-man squads ahead of the World Cup which begins on Oct. 5.

Twice champions India, who lost in the semi-finals in 2019, play their first match of the campaign against Australia in Chennai three days later.

INDIA SQUAD

Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav.