India made a late change to their 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, replacing Axar Patel with veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

“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,” said the ICC in a statement.

The spin-bowling all-rounder missed the final of the Asia Cup as a result.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named his replacement. The right-arm bowler had a good show in three-match series against Australia. He picked up four wickets in two games.

Axar too was named conditionally in the squad for the final ODI subject to his fitness but missed the game which India lost by 66 runs in Rajkot.

India would play their first World Cup match against Australia on October 7. The Men in Blue would play two warm-up fixtures, the first against England on September 30 followed by the Netherlands on October 3.

“When we talk about the 15 we are very clear what we want,” Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said after the series that India won by 2-1. “We are not confused, we know where we are headed as a team.

“It’s a team sport and we want everyone to come and play their part – that’s how we win championships. It’s about looking after the body and try and stay fresh for the next one and half months.”

Ashwin has played in the 2011 and 2015 editions of the World Cup for India.

India World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), 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.