Injured Akshar Patel was replaced by R Ashwin in India's World Cup squad at last minute.
This was because the left-handed all-rounder had suffered a left quad injury during the Bangladesh game in the recent Asia Cup 2023 tournament. Since then, he has been recovering at the NCA and was even named in the Indian squad for the third ODI against Australia, but subject to fitness.
R Ashwin played well in the first two ODIs, picking three scalps in the Indore match to help India win the match and pocket the series. However, the medical staff at the NCA revealed that Akshar Patel would be getting fit in time for the World Cup to begin on October 5.
This led to Indian team management opting to replace Akshar Patel with R Ashwin in the final 15-member squad and Ashwin, along with the rest of the squad reached Guwahati for the first warmup game against England on September 29, 2023.
Meanwhile, an alleged deleted screenshot began doing rounds on social media which was supposedly taken from Akshar Patel’s Instagram account. The message in the image read: “Should have taken science instead of Commerce and hired a better PR” written with a heartbreak emoji.
The screenshot of the alleged deleted post went viral on social media and fans thought that the cricketer had taken a dig at the Indian board for leaving him out of the World Cup squad.
But now, Akshar Patel has clarified that this screenshot is a fake one as he never shared anything like this on his Instagram account which was deleted later.
Circle of Cricket's Saurabh Malhotra, who is also the digital media manager of Akshar Patel, posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Hello everyone! There's a fake screenshot doing the rounds today which is allegedly taken from @akshar2026's Instagram page. He has NOT posted any such story on his social media account, so the question of deleting it doesn't arise. Please treat this as an official clarification, which I'm issuing on his behalf. Thank you.”
Akshar Patel also reposted the clarification post by his digital media manager, confirming that the 'deleted' screenshot was indeed fake.
India will begin their World Cup campaign on October 8 against Australia in Chennai.