India The setback has come before the business end of the five-match T20 series against South Africawith the all-rounder Akshar Patel He was ruled out of the remaining two matches due to illness. As confirmed by the BCCI, a domestic left-arm spinning all-rounder has been drafted in as his replacement for the fourth T20I in Lucknow and the series finale in Ahmedabad.
With Akshar Patel sidelined, India lost an important all-round option.
The BCCI said Axar will remain with the team in Lucknow, where he will undergo further medical evaluation despite being ruled out of the last two matches. The 30-year-old had already missed the third T20 match in Dharamsala, where despite his absence, India won by seven wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Axar’s campaign saw mixed returns in the first two matches: he scored 23 from 21 at Cuttack and contributed match-changing figures of 2 for 7, before taking 1 for 27 from three overs and scoring a run-a-ball 21 in a failed No. 3 experiment at New Chandigarh during a chase of 214. His exit comes with the temporary unavailability of Spearhead Jasprit BumrahWho could not play in the Dharamsala match due to personal reasons, due to which India was forced to -Kuldeep Yadav And Harshit RanaBoth responded impressively in third T20I win
With Axar’s ability to bowl in the powerplay, control the middle overs and score runs quickly down the order, India appear to have lost a vital part of their balance just months before finalizing plans for the 2026 T20 World Cup. The remaining two matches in Lucknow and Ahmedabad, on larger grounds with pitches traditionally favorable to spinners, would have been ideal conditions for Axar’s defensive control and batting depth at No. 7.
Like-for-like replacement for Axar Patel
In the absence of letters, Shahbaz AhmedHis return gives India an all-round option of left-arm spin-bowling, even if he is still on the fringes of the international setup. The 30-year-old has previously represented India in three ODIs and two T20Is, with his last appearance being in the gold medal match. 2023 asian games against in hangzhou afghanistan.
Shahbaz’s recent domestic form Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Has been modest, 60 runs at a strike rate of slightly over 130 and four wickets at an economy rate above eight in five innings for Bengal, underlining that this call-up is more about role fit and team continuity than polishing current statistics. At the broader T20 level, his 114-match record of 1,355 runs at an average in the mid-20s and a strike rate in the mid-130s, as well as more than 70 wickets at an average of less than eight runs per over, reflects a useful all-rounder who is capable of holding an end and scoring important runs.
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India, leading 2-1 in Lucknow and Ahmedabad, will now assess whether Shahbaz gets a place in the XI directly along with Kuldeep as the third spin option and potentially a part-time spinner. With South Africa needing to win both the remaining games to clinch the series, Shahbaz’s inclusion not only adds to Axar’s role but also gives the team management another data point while fine-tuning the pool of spin-bowling all-rounders for future white-ball assignments.
India’s team for the last two T20Is
Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakraborty, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed.
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