T20 World Cup: Shardul Thakur Replaces Axar Patel In India Squad

Shardul Thakur has replaced Axar Patel in the India squad for the T20 World Cup, with the latter being moved into the stand-by players' list.

Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Shardul Thakur has been added to India's squad for the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14. Shardul has replaced Axar Patel in the squad, with the latter being moved into the stand-by players' list, which also includes Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar. Shardul's inclusion in place of Axar is the only change to the squad, with Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya keeping his place despite concerns over whether he would be available to bowl following his recent recovery from injury.

In its press release confirming India's squad for the tournament, the BCCI also named eight players who would assist the team in its preparations.

These players are Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K Gowtham.

Earlier, India had named a preliminary 15-man squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup on September 8, in which Axar was part of the main squad while Shardul was named in the reserves.

Days later, India captain Virat Kohli took to social media to announce that he would be stepping down as the skipper of Team India in the shortest format of the game after the completion of the T20 World Cup.