Akshar Patel Called up for Australia Tests Series

Mumbai: Akshar Patel, the Gujarat allrounder, will join the Indian Test team in Australia as a replacement for Ravindra Jadeja, whose shoulder injury has ruled him out of the rest of the series, the BCCI said on Monday.

Jadeja was injured during training on Saturday, the fourth day of the Brisbane Test, where Shikhar Dhawan was hit on the wrist at the nets prior to the beginning of the day's play. The extent of Jadeja's injury to his shoulder was only known on Sunday following scans, and he will return to India to undergo rehabilitation.

Jadeja, who didn't feature in the first two Tests, was part of the squad as the second spinner behind R Ashwin, but was overlooked for the opening Test at Adelaide where stand-in captain Virat Kohli chose to give legspinner Karn Sharma a Test debut.

Akshar has played nine ODIs for India since making his debut in Bangladesh earlier this year, but shot to prominence following an impressive IPL 2014 for Kings XI Punjab, picking up 17 wickets.

The Gurajat left-arm spinner is known more for his accurate stump-to-stump bowling rather than deceiving batsmen with flight, a ploy that has helped him to 32 wickets from 10 first-class matches. Playing against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy on Sunday, Akshar picked up 4/72 and will fly out to Australia after completing the match.

Akshar entered the Indian team as a replacement for Jadeja, who was rested during the home ODI series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, and has now got his maiden Test call-up following an injury to his rival from Saurashtra as a like-for-like replacement.

India are already 2-0 down in the four-Test series following defeats in Adelaide and Brisbane. The third Test begins in Melbourne on Boxing Day.