Deepak Chahar was on Tuesday named as a replacement for Avesh Khan in India’s Asia Cup 2022 squad, news agency PTI reported. The latter has been ruled out of the tournament with sickness. 

Pacer Avesh Khan was down with fever when India took on Pakistan on Sunday. He missed the blockbuster match, which Babar Azam and co won by five wickets. The 25-year-old also missed the team’s Super 4 must-win tie against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. 

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Chahar, one of the most expensive buys of this year’s IPL, was injured prior to the season. He was in the standby list for the 2021 T20 World Cup. However, he made his comeback only last month in an ODI series against Zimbabwe. 

In 20 T20I matches, Chahar has 26 wickets against his name. Avesh Khan, on the other hand, has 13 scalps in 15 games. 

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Chahar sustained a hamstring injury during the home series vs West Indies in February. Against Zimbabwe, he picked three wickets for 27 runs in the first ODI. He was named the player of the match. However, in the third game, the seamer leaked 75 runs in 10 overs, taking two wickets. 

If India lose against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, their Asia Cup 2022 campaign will be over. However, if they win, Chahar could be key in the upcoming fixtures. 

Over the years, the 30-year-old has established himself as a handy new ball bowler. He swings the ball both ways and troubles batters. 

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“The landing was a little hard and when you play a international game after six and half months, obviously you will be a little nervous. Before coming here I played at least 4-5 practice games and the body and mind wasn’t working together in the first few overs, but it got better after that. I’m fine and the body is fine as well,” he said after the first ODI vs Zimbabwe. 

India’s squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar