Axar Patel to replace Ravindra Jadeja for third Test of India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2017

Jadeja was suspended for the upcoming Pallekele Test after his accumulated demerit points reached six within a 24-month period following his latest breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for which he received a 50 per cent fine and three demerit points.

During the third day’s play in the Colombo Test against Sri Lanka on Saturday, Jadeja was found guilty of breaching article 2.2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an International Match”.

As Jadeja had received a 50 per cent fine and three demerit points during the Indore Test against New Zealand in October 2016 for violating 2.2.11 of the Code, with the addition of Saturday’s three demerit points, he has reached the threshold of four demerit points, which, pursuant to article 7.6 of the Code, have now been converted into two suspension points.

Saturday’s incident happened on the final delivery of the 58th over when Jadeja, after fielding off his own bowling, threw the ball back at the batsman who had not left his crease.

The on-field umpires deemed the throwing “in a dangerous manner” as it narrowly missed Dimuth Karunaratne.

The team is as follows:

Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, W Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, M Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.