Patel could make his Test debut on Saturday

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

With Ravindra Jadeja out of the third Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele, India have brought in left-arm spinner Axar Patel to replace him.

Jadeja has been suspended for the match after picking up six demerit points. Not all the points were accumulated at once as he already had three of them going into the second Test in Colombo.

But, during the match, he was fined 50 per cent of his match fee and given three demerit points after collecting the ball of his own bowling and throwing it back at Sri Lanka debutant Malinda Pushpakumara “in a dangerous manner”.

While Jadeja is the highest wicket-taker in the series with 13 victims, there is a possibility that Patel will take his spot in the side, even though he has yet to play Test cricket.

But, given that India have Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav, it remains to be seen whether they opt to go with three spinners in Pallekele.

India hold an unassailable 2-0 lead going into the third Test, which begins on Saturday.

India’s squad for the third Test: Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund