IND vs WI 5th T20I: Harshal Patel ruled out of the series; doubt for Asia Cup 2022

India’s primary death bowler in Harshal Patel has been ruled out of WI vs IND 2022 due to a rib injury. The Gujarat pace bowling all rounder made a mark for himself in the 2021 IPL with some extraordinary death bowling. Indian Team will be sweating over his fitness as him missing the T20I games leading upto world cup would not serve well for both the team and Harshal Patel.

IND vs WI: Harshal Patel set to miss Asia Cup

Harshal Patel didn’t play even a game in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies. India played Avesh Khan in 3 of the four games while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh have played all the four games so far. It was expected that Harshal Patel would get to play the 3^rd game but BCCI stated that Harshal Patel’s injury has ruled him out of contention in the playing 11.

After the toss of the 4^th T20I, BCCI tweeted that Harshal Patel is ruled out of the final two T20Is as the death bowling specialist hasn’t fully recovered from the injury. With the squad for the Asia Cup 2022 set to be announced on 8^th of August, it is expected that Harshal Patel won’t find a place in it.

? UPDATE: Harshal Patel has not fully recovered from his rib injury and is ruled out of the remaining two T20Is against West Indies.#TeamIndia | #WIvIND

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 6, 2022

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Some other reports also suggested that Harshal Patel is unlikely to recover within the WT20 in October later this year in Australia. India had invested heavily on Harshal Patel who has played 15 T20Is in 2022 picking up 19 wickets at an economy rate of 8.76, it will be a huge blow for India if the pacer has not recovered by WT20.

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Will India go to Deepak Chahar in absence of Harshal Patel

Deepak Chahar has recovered from the injury and is set to play against Zimbabwe. Harshal Patel provided that additional batting depth at #8, now that he is out of contention for Asia Cup, Deepak Chahar is someone who has the ability to bat at #8 and is a renowned new ball specialist. Although, it won’t be a wise move to replace a death specialist with a new ball specialist just because of the batting depth. One has to wait and see how the Indian management react to this.

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