Saini replaces injured Deepak Chahar in third ODI against West Indies

Indian pacer Deepak Chahar, who recently became the first Indian male bowler to take a hat-trick in T20 Internationals, was on Thursday (December 19) ruled out of the series-deciding ODI against West Indies due to back injury.

Navdeep Saini will replace the Chennai Super Kings bowler in the series which is currently locked 1-1 with the final ODI to be played in Cuttack on Sunday (December 20).

“Deepak felt mild pain in his lower back following the second ODI played in Vizag on Wednesday. The BCCI medical team examined him and has suggested that the fast bowler needs some rest in order to fully recover,” the BCCI said in a statement.

“He has thus been ruled out of the final ODI,” it added.

The fast-improving Chahar, who started with a brilliant 8 for 10 in his Ranji Trophy debut against Hyderabad but came into India reckoning only after two seasons with IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, spoke about the need to remain injury-free.

Also read: Rohit, Rahul tons, Kuldeep’s hat-trick crush Windies’ chase, level series

Saini had an impressive start to his India career during the three-match T20 series against the West Indies in Florida and Trinidad earlier this year. In his first match, he returned figures of 3/17, which included a wicket in his very first over and also a wicket maiden in the last over.

The Delhi pacer went wicket-less in the second match but in the third game, on a slow pitch, he picked up 2/34 as India whitewashed the West Indies 3-0. India will hope for a similar performance from the 27-year-old on Sunday, provided he is picked in the playing XI.

India lost the first ODI in Chennai by eight wickets but centuries from Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul powered the hosts to a series-levelling 107-run victory in the second match in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

India’s squad for third ODI:
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini.

(With inputs from agencies)