Let’s talk about Akshar Patel first. He has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian team for this series and the subsequent T20 World Cup. He was playing in the first match of the series, but got injured while the Indian team was bowling. Akshar Patel was bowling the 16th over of New Zealand’s innings in Nagpur. The first two balls were bowled, and Patel gave away just three runs. Daryl Mitchell was on strike. Mitchell played a brilliant stroke, which Akshar extended his hand to stop. The ball did not stop, but Akshar’s hand was definitely hurt. A little blood was visible from his hand. Then the physios came in and took Akshar off. Akshar couldn’t even complete his over, and Abhishek Sharma took over in his place.
There is not much time between the first and second matches. The second match is being played within a day. No matter how minor the bleeding, it is still a significant injury that takes three to four days to heal. This means that whatever the injury may be, if not serious, at least it may not have fully healed. The World Cup is also starting from February 7, and Akshar will play an important role in it. It remains to be seen whether captain Suryakumar Yadav will risk playing Akshar in the next match, or rest him to prepare for the upcoming matches.
Kuldeep Yadav likely to replace Akshar Patel Meanwhile, if Akshar Patel is ruled out for today’s match in Raipur, who will replace him? Kuldeep Yadav is a strong contender. However, Akshar Patel can also bat and has often proved his ability to perform, which Kuldeep cannot. This means that if Kuldeep comes, Team India will be left with one less batsman. However, if Harshit Rana is brought in to replace Akshar, he can bat. Now the question is whether a spinner will replace the spinner or the run-scoring fast bowler. It will mostly depend on the Raipur pitch. No further changes to the playing eleven are likely.
Team India Probable Playing XI for 2nd T20I: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Rinku Singh, Akshar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav, Jaspreet Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty.
&w=360&resize=360,240&ssl=1 "Ind: Team India broke up 50 years old record, hit so much that …")
&w=360&resize=360,240&ssl=1 "Special in magnificent innings of Vaibhavi Suryavanshi so that such a statement was angry with Ajay Jadeja, Laotted Class")
&w=360&resize=360,240&ssl=1 "The Olympic Tangh’s winning Lavlina has accused the accusation of insulting on the BFI officer, IOA initiated investigation")