Picture Credit: Twitter

Picture Credit: Twitter

India suffered a major blow during their ongoing Asia Cup title defence campaign. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out of the continental tournament after sustaining a knee injury ahead of India vs Pakistan clash on Sunday. BCCI has named Axar Patel as a replacement of the all-rounder for the remainder of Asia Cup 2022. 

Notably, Axar Patel was earlier named as one of the standby players along with Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer. The Board of Control for Cricket in India further informed that Jadeja is currently being looked after by the BCCI medical team. Jadeja was being regarded as a vital cog for Men in Blue and contributed with the bat against Pakistan in their Asia Cup opener on August 28 (Sunday). 

The 33-year-old was the highest run-getter as he scored 35 off 29 deliveries and stitched a crucial-match winning partnership with Hardik Pandya. Ever since news broke out regarding Jadeja's ruling out of the tournament, Indian cricket fans wished him speedy recovery from the injury. Interestingly, Ravindra Jadeja's IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings also extended wishes for the all-rounder on social media. "Speedy recovery, Jaddu! Come back stronger than ever!" wrote CSK in a tweet.

While many would expect an IPL franchise wishing its player is a normal affair, but it is to be noted that CSK and Ravindra Jadeja are reportedly going through a rough patch. Reports have even suggested that the cricketer is likely to part ways with the Yellow Army and might join a new team ahead of IPL 2023. 

The speculations triggered when Ravindra Jadeja who was given the captaincy of the squad ahead of IPL 2022, handing the reigns back to Mahendra Singh Dhoni midway of the season. The defending champions failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time and finished at the bottom of the points table.

The star all-rounder also missed out from the final four matches of the tournament as he was ruled out following an injury. Recently, Jadeja deleted all CSK-related posts from 2021 and 2022 season from his official Instagram profile which was termed as another instance confirming possible rift between franchise and its most consistent player.