After the October 10th Deadline to make any squad changes, Team India were given another 5 days to replace any injured players. Late last evening, just before the IPL Qualifier match, it was announced that India have decided to replace the bowling all rounder, Axar Patel with the fast bowler, Shardul Thakur.
Axar Patel will now be a part of the reserve squad, or the stand-by players for India. Additionally, the selectors also announced 8 players who would be helping out the first team in practice and preparations for the ICC World Cup 2021. These players are; Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K Gowtham.
Speculation has been going on about the possibilities of Hardik Pandya being replaced as well. That seems unlikely now, as his fitness was an issue in terms of seam bowling, but with the inclusion of an experienced fast bowler such as Shardul, Pandya might be taking on the batters role only this world cup.