“Still no Washi…Y Axar when you have Jadeja” – Twitter reacts as Axar Patel replaces Shardul Thakur in the second ODI against Australia

When Australia’s Steve Smith won the toss for the second One-Day International against India on Sunday at the YS Raja Reddy Stadium in Visakhapatnam, he elected to bowl. India won the first game of the series by five wickets on Friday and now hopes to sweep the ODI series. Visakhapatnam has had severe rainfall on both the night of the match and the day of the game, therefore the possibility of rain clouds hanging over the game is real. The top order disintegrated against the pace and swing of Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc, but with Rohit Sharma back as captain, they should be able to recover.

India made two changes going into the second ODI against Australia. Rohit Sharma is back for Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel makes his way back into the playing XI in place of Shardul Thakur. Rohit mentioned at the toss that he wanted Axar in the XI keeping in mind that they needed him if they bowled first. However, now that India is batting first, it now remains to be seen what role Axar Patel plays under the floodlights.

Rohit Sharma in for Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel in for Shardul Thakur

Rohit said: “Pitch has been under the covers for a long time, we got to bat well and see where we are. Every game you play for India is a pressure game, so you got to stay calm and make the right decision. We have tried to remain calm in the last few ODI series we have played. Two changes. Ishan misses out, I am back for him, Shardul misses out and Axar is in. If we win the toss, I thought we could do something with three spinners if we bowl first.”

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami

Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey(w), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

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Twitter Reacts:

Good decision to replace Thakur with Axar! With India bowling second, it could come in handy

— Sumit Agarwal 🇮🇳 (@sumitagarwal_IN) March 19, 2023

Still no Washi…Y Axar when you have Jadeja https://t.co/QiNZozzdm5

— Saro (@BiggChainSaw) March 19, 2023

Australia playing with 5 pacers and india going with 3 spinners how will they bowl in due at 2nd innings @cricketaakash ?? https://t.co/HVOg0Qz86L

— DHEER (@DHEER91189867) March 19, 2023

Wow,Finally a good move to remove Shardul https://t.co/gCKUF0ldXo

— AJAY (@ajay71845) March 19, 2023

Why no Washington Sundar in place of Thakur?

— Cricket Crazy (@CrazyinCricket) March 19, 2023