INDvsWI: KL Rahul, Axar Patel ruled out of three T20Is against West Indies

INDvsWI: Opener batsman KL Rahul and senior spinner Axar Patel have been ruled out of the upcoming three matches T20I series with West Indies. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the development on Friday.

KL Rahul sustained a hamstring strain while he was fielding in the second ODI match in Narendra Modi Stadium and was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the West Indies series. He is not taking part in the third ODI and will also be unavailable in the T20I series.

Meanwhile, Axar Patel is in his final stages of recovery. Patel had earlier tested covid positive and his injury recovery is taking longer time than expected. He will also be unavailable for the three games T20I series, starting February 16.

The Indian cricket board have roped in young batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad and all-rounder Deepak Hooda as injury covers. Both the aforementioned will travel to Kolkata?s Eden Gardens with the rest of their Indian teammates.

India and West Indies will tour Kolkata for the three matches T20I series. Eden Gardens will host all three fixtures, starting February 16. As of now, the BCCI has restricted the stadium to allow crowd for the matches, however, CAB has requested the cricket board to allow fans for the matches.

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Team India has already won the three matches ODI series by winning the first two matches. The hosts are going super strong in the third match as well and are on verge of sweeping the Caribbeans in the ODI series.

Down below is India's updated T20I squad against West Indies.

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Surya Kumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda.

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