Pacer Deepak Chahar has been added to India's T20I squad for the remainder of the series against Australia after fast bowler Mukesh Kumar was granted leave to get married.
Mukesh missed the ongoing third T20I against Australia in Guwahati and will join the squad in Raipur for the fourth match of the series.
Suryakumar Yadav-led India lead the five-match series by 2-0 after winning both games in Vizag and Thiruvananthapuram respectively.
"Fast bowler Mukesh Kumar made a request to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to be released from India's squad ahead of the third T20I against Australia in Guwahati. Mukesh is getting married and has been granted leave for the duration of his wedding festivities. He will join the squad ahead of the 4th T20I in Raipur. Pacer Deepak Chahar has been added to India's squad for the remainder of the series," BCCI wrote on X.
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For the third match, Avesh Khan replaced Mukesh in the playing 11 and stand-in skipper Suryakumar revealed the reason behind his absence during the toss.
"Happy to bat first, not surprised with the dew coming along early. We just want to do the same thing, have the game plans and express ourselves. One change for us - Avesh replaces Mukesh, who is playing his biggest game, he's getting married and we wish him all the best," he said.
Australia skipper Matthew Wade won the toss and elected to bowl first on the batting friendly surface. The visitors made four changes in their playing 11 after rejigging their squad earlier in the day.
"We will bowl. I don't think it matters a lot, dew should settle in early. We are not a 100% sure, but it's quite wet already and could only become a bigger factor. We were short in a couple of phases, but the boys are in good shape. We have a few going out after this game - Travis Head, Kane Richardson and Jason Behrendorff," Wade said.
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India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna.
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade(w/c), Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha, Kane Richardson.
