Did Axar Patel Really Take A Dig At Rohit Sharma Or R Ashwin On Instagram Story? Here's The Truth

A day after being replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin in India’s World Cup squad, Axar Patel grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons due to a viral screenshot.

After being named in the preliminary World Cup squad, the spin-bowling allrounder suffered a thigh injury during the Super Four clash against Bangladesh in Asia Cup 2023 earlier this month. He was replaced by Washington Sundar for the final before the selectors recalled Ravichandran Ashwin for the three-match series against Australia.

Axar Patel was also named in the squad for the third ODI but his participation depended on his fitness. However, he failed to recover and missed the third ODI too. On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin played in all three games and impressed with his economical display.

And the selectors finally decided to take the big call on Thursday (September 28) which was the deadline to submit the final squad. With Axar Patel failing to recover in time, Ravichandran Ashwin was added to the World Cup squad.

Did Axar Patel post a cryptic message:

While Axar Patel was ruled out of the World Cup due to a thigh injury, it looked like there was more to the story. A screenshot of a story from his Instagram account went viral. Reports claimed that it was soon deleted.

One post showed a human skeleton holding a scissor, cutting a heart followed by his second story which had “Should have taken science instead of Commerce and hired a better PR” written with a heartbreak emoji. Unsurprisingly, the photos went viral, making many believe that not all was well regarding his axing from the team.

But it looks like the photos were fake. A leading cricket journalist took to X to clarify the matter, writing: “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,” he added.

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…

— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) September 29, 2023

India squad for ICC World Cup 2023: 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.