INJURY WOES

Axar, Jayant set to miss ODIs against England

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Having been brought in as cover in the Chennai Test, Axar Patel landed on his thumb and suffered a ligament tear on his bowling thumb © Cricbuzz

Even as the year 2016 draws to a close, India's 'season of injuries' refuses to end. The Times of India (TOI) has learnt that Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner has been ruled out from the limited-overs series against England, which begins in Pune from January 15, due to a thumb injury.

Having been brought in as a cover for the fifth and final Test against England at Chennai, the left-arm spinner landed on his thumb while trying to catch England's Liam Dawson off Ravichandran Ashwin at the boundary during the last Test at Chennai. Patel suffered a ligament tear on his bowling thumb. The spinner, who subsequently missed Gujarat's Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Odisha at Jaipur, visited Mumbai-based orthopedic surgeon Sudhir Warrier for further consultation and the word is that he may have to go under the knife.

He is thus ruled out of the limited-overs leg of England's India tour, which includes three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and as many Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). Patel has played 30 ODIs and seven T20Is, and has been a regular part of the limited-overs squad in recent times.

It has also emerged that offspinner Jayant Yadav, who made a sensational start to his Test career against England recently, too hasn't recovered from a hamstring injury which resulted in him missing out on the Chennai Test.

With Ashwin too suffering from 'sports hernia', India's spin department, barring the presence of leggie Amit Mishra, looks a bit depleted. It thus provides an opportunity to left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja to return to the limited-overs fold, and also makes a case for Uttar Pradesh chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav to receive a call-up. The 22-year-old Yadav has picked up 35 wickets at an average of 27.42 in eight Ranji games this season, besides scoring 466 runs at 35.84.

In fact, the national selectors, who're likely to meet in Mumbai on January 5 or 6 to pick the Indian team for the limited-overs series, will also have to find replacements for Mumbai batsmen Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane.

© TNN

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