India had earlier suffered a huge blow as their talismanic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a knee injury, which he suffered while playing in the Asia Cup. Jadeja has drastically improved his batting in the last couple of years and he was doing a fine job while batting in the lower middle order.

However, Axar Patel has done a fine job since he replaced Ravindra Jadeja in the squad, especially with the ball. Patel scalped eight wickets in the three matches against Australia and he was awarded the Player of the Series.

Furthermore, he took two wickets in three matches against South Africa in the T20I series. Moreover, Patel has got the skills to add the finishing touches while batting in the lower middle order.

Patel is mostly right on the money and he has an impressive economy rate of 7.54 in the T20I format.

“Jadeja is a world-class bowler and he has been batting extremely well too. Injuries are part of the game and no one can take his place. But the way Axar Patel has been bowling, we have found one alternative. He has shown he can do it,” Chahal told Dainik Jagran in an interview.

Axar Patel is a like-for-like replacement for Ravindra Jadeja as far as bowling is concerned. There is no doubt that Jadeja is a better batsman than Patel but the latter will look to deliver for the team in the T20 World Cup.

On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal is also going to hold the key for the Indian team but he has been a bit expensive in the recent past. Chahal scalped two wickets and conceded only 15 runs in his quota of four overs in the practice match against Western Australia.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan at the MCG on 23rd October.