Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's inclusion in Team India's squad for the ICC World Cup triggered an epic meme fest on X, previously known as Twitter. The Tamil Nadu-born tweaker, not included in the provisional 15-men squad announced earlier, replaced all-rounder Axar Patel in the Rohit Sharma-led side.

Axar Patel suffered a quadriceps injury during India's match against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka earlier this month. The left-arm orthodox bowler was sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to expedite his recovery but failed to get fit for the tournament.

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Notably, Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played an ODI in January 2022 before being drafted into the Indian team for the recently concluded three-match series against Australia, impressed almost everyone, including the fans, selectors and former players with his performance against Pat Cummins and his boys.

In the two games he played against the Kangaroos, Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed four wickets. His figures of 3/41 in Indore, where he posed serious problems for Australian batters, appear to have convinced skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid to recall him for the World Cup.

Besides, the World Cup is being played in India, handing Ravichandran Ashwin a massive advantage of home conditions. With his wide range of variations and ability to impart turn on his stock balls, he could be lethal on slow and dry Indian pitches.

Ravichandran Ashwin will be a part of a trio of spinners that features Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav in the Indian bowling line-up.

“India have been forced to make a late change to their 15-member squad for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. Axar Patel has failed to recover in time for the World Cup after sustaining a left quadriceps strain during India's Asia Cup Super Four encounter against Bangladesh. The spin-bowling all-rounder missed the final of the Asia Cup as a result. Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named his replacement, who was impressive on his return to ODI cricket in the recently concluded series against Australia where he picked up four wickets in two games,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on its official website.

Before the ICC officially announced the move, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh predicted the development, considering Ravichandran Ashwin bowled exceptionally well against the Australians.

“Ravichandran Ashwin has performed really well and I feel he will be in the World Cup squad. Teams can be changed before September 28 and I feel Axar Patel will be out as a variation will be added to the squad. Earlier, I felt they would play Washington Sundar because he was called to Sri Lanka before Ashwin,” Harbhajan Singh stated on his YouTube channel.

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“They have gone with Ashwin because he has the experience. The rest of the team is solid and I hope that the good performances continue,” the former off-spinner elaborated.

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma had also hinted at Ravichandran Ashwin's entry into the World Cup ahead of the third ODI against Australia in Indore.

“Ashwin has got the class, he's got experience of playing the sport and handling the pressure. It's just that he hasn't played ODIs [for] a year or so. But you cannot take away the class and the experience that the individual has over the years, and in the last couple of games [against Australia], we saw how well he bowled,” Rohit Sharma said.

“He has got a lot of variation up his sleeve and in case there is a chance, we can look at a lot of things. Hopefully, the way things are at this point, it does well for us because we have got all the backups ready. We have given them enough game-time,” Rohit Sharma added.

For the unversed, Ravichandran Ashwin is only the second cricketer who was also a part of India's previous World Cup triumph in 2011, the other being talismanic batter Virat Kohli.

Two-time champions India will open their World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai on October 8.

India's squad for ICC ODI World Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

The Indian cricket team will contest its nine league fixtures in the World Cup at nine locations.

Here is the complete list of India's matches in the 2023 ODI World Cup:

October 8: India v Australia, Chennai, 2 pm
October 11: India v Afghanistan, New Delhi, 2 pm
October 14: India v Pakistan, Ahmedabad, 2 pm
October 19: India v Bangladesh, Pune, 2 pm
October 22: India v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 2 pm
October 29: India v England, Lucknow, 2 pm
November 2: India v Sri Lanka, Mumbai, 2 pm
November 5: India v South Africa, Kolkata, 2 pm
November 11: India v Netherlands, Bengaluru, 2 pm