Injured Deepak Chahar ruled out of third ODI, Saini named his replacement

India pacer Deepak Chahar was on Thursday ruled out of series-deciding third ODI against West Indies owing to a back injury and replaced by Navdeep Saini. series is currently locked 1-1 with final ODI to be played here on Sunday.

"Deepak felt mild pain in his lower back following second ODI played in Vizag on Wednesday. BCCI medical team examined him and has suggested that fast bowler needs some rest in order to fully recover," BCCI said in a statement. "He has thus been ruled out of final ODI," it added.

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fast-improving Chahar, who recently became first Indian male bowler to take a hat-trick in T20 Internationals, spoke about need to remain injury-free. Agra-based Chahar started with a brilliant 8 for 10 in his Ranji Trophy debut against Hyderabad but came into India reckoning only after two seasons with IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. Saini had an impressive start to his India career during three-match T20 series against West Indies in Florida and Trinidad earlier this year. In his first match, he returned figures of 3/17, which included a wicket in his very first over and also a wicket maiden in last over.

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Delhi pacer went wicket-less in second match but in third game, on a slow pitch, he picked up 2/34 as India whitewashed West Indies 3-0. India will hope for a similar performance from 27-year-old on Sunday, provided he is picked in playing XI. India lost first ODI in Chennai by eight wickets but centuries from Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul powered hosts to a series-leveling 107-run victory in second match in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

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India's squad for third ODI:

Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini. 

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