Axar Patel ruled out of remainder of IND vs SA 2025 T20Is; former RCB all-rounder named replacement

India all-rounder Axar Patel has been ruled out of the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Monday, December 15, announced that the 31-year-old will miss the remaining two games due to illness.

Despite being sidelined, Axar has travelled with the squad to Lucknow, where the penultimate match of the series will be played on Wednesday, December 17. In his absence, former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed has been named as his replacement.

Axar featured in the first two matches of the series before missing the third game in Dharamsala. The left-handed all-rounder scored 44 runs across two innings and claimed three wickets during his appearances.

Here’s the Men in Blue’s updated squad for the remaining two games against the Proteas: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), 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, and Shahbaz Ahmed.

Shahbaz Ahmed has featured in two T20Is for India

As Bengal all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed earned a national call-up, he is not new to international cricket. The 31-year-old has featured in two T20Is, with both appearances coming at the 2023 Asian Games, where he picked up a couple of wickets. He has also represented India in three ODIs, claiming three wickets.

Looking at his overall T20 record, Shahbaz has played 114 matches, scoring 1,355 runs at an average of 25.56 and a strike rate of 135.77, including four half-centuries and one century. With the ball, the left-arm spinner has taken 73 wickets at an average of 30.43, a strike rate of 23.2, and an economy rate of 7.87, with best figures of 3/7.

Meanwhile, Shahbaz will be keen to make an impact if given an opportunity, as the Men in Blue look to seal the series in Lucknow, holding a 2-1 lead with two matches remaining.

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Edited by Dev Sharma