Chennai: Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar were Friday withdrawn from the Indian Test squad. Both Shahbaz Nadeem and Chahar were sent back to the reserves. This happened after all-rounder Axar Patel regained his fitness ahead of the second Test against England which begins Saturday. Nadeem and Chahar were added to the main squad after Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test due to a knee injury. However, Patel has recovered completely and is available for selection. The left-arm spinner bowled a lengthy spell to skipper Virat Kohli at the nets for a lengthy period. He also batted for a substantial amount of time.
“Axar Patel has recovered completely and is now available for selection for the 2nd Paytm Test in Chennai against England to be played from Saturday, 13th February. The all-rounder had complained of pain in his left knee and was ruled out of the first Test,” BCCI said in a release.
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Axar has so far played 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is for India. Now he is set to make his Test debut Saturday. He will replace Nadeem in the Indian XI. It means that Kuldeep Yadav’s wait will continue for another game. Unless off course the Indian think tank decides to rest Washington Sundar and play Kuldeep. In the first Test, Kohli had insisted on having a spinner who takes the ball away from right-handers. So Nadeem was drafted into the side and Kuldeep had to sit out.
Nadeem, the Jharkhand spinner however, failed to impress with the ball. He gave away too many loose deliveries and also was guilty of overstepping on a number of occasions.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has now withdrawn Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar from the main squad. They have been added back to the group of standby players,” the release further added.
