The fast bowler, who is nursing a sore ankle, is thus ruled out of the first two ODIs against the West Indies.
Kwazulu-Natal ended the second and final day of the practice match on 243 for 8, in reply to India's 270 for 6 declared.
However, the speedster said India only need to win the remaining two matches to reach the final.
The son of a small-time cotton farmer with rugged good looks, Munaf Patel has finally realised his dream -- to play for India and bowl fast.
In another change, Rohit Sharma will replace Onkar Khanwilkar in Mumbai side for the three-day match against the Australians.
Captain Harbhajan Singh and fast bowler Munaf Patel will be retained by Mumbai Indians for the next edition of the Indian Premier League. Amidst media speculation, IPL sources dismissed talk that the names of the two players figure in the list of players to be released by the franchise.
The 22-year-old fast bowler will play in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy matches against Delhi and UP.
The Aussie pace ace says too much of media and public glare could hurt the fledgling fast bowler's career.
The 25-year-old pacer had figures of 4 for 31 as Delhi were bundled out for 177 in their first innings on Day 2 of the Irani Trophy match. In their second essay, Rest of India were 99 for 1 close, for an overall lead of 174 runs.
Reader Farrukh Firoz sent us these pictures from London.
Left-arm pacer R P Singh will be out of action for three weeks because of a torn hamstring and miss the tri-series involving India, Australia and Sri Lanka.
Manoj Tiwary and Munaf Patel extended wishes to former India captain Sourav Ganguly on his 52nd birthday.
Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Ramesh Powar were dropped for the first two Sri Lanka ODIs.
Though India lost the ODI and Test series to South Africa, Allan Donald feels the visitors would be happy with the return to form of old warhorses such as Zaheer and Ganguly.
The India pacer is set to play in the second Test against South Africa in Durban after recovering from an ankle injury.
This unknown lad from a nondescript Gujarat village Ikhar in Bharuch has been sending down 140-150 kmph zingers on a regular basis.
Patel, one of the fastest bowlers in the country, will play for the Ranji trophy champions this season.
Medium pacer Munaf Patel, who is nursing a groin injury, will leave the tour of Sri Lanka mid-way to return home for rehabilitation and Tamil Nadu paceman Laxmipathy Balaji will replace him in Colombo. Munaf's injury was first noticed after the first ODI in Dambulla, where he bowled five overs and conceded 32 runs without taking any wicket. He missed the second match.
Reader Ashwyn Sathanantham sent us this picture from Wellington.
With two back-to-back matches coming up for India, Munaf Patel had decided to take a breather and go for a movie with his wife. However, he was called back from the theatre and asked to join the join team in reviewing the Ireland-England game.
The Indian seamer was clobbered by Ramnaresh Sarwan for six successive fours on day 2 of the third Test.
India's bowling coach Eric Simmons defended RP Singh's inclusion in the playing eleven for the ongoing fourth and final Test against England, saying he was preferred over Munaf Patel because of his ability to swin the bowl.
Chris Gayle, the dynamic former West Indian batter will captain Telangana Tigers in the first edition of the inaugural edition of the much-anticipated Indian Veteran Premier League (IVPL).
Uncertainty continues to reign over medium-pacer Munaf Patel's availability for the first Test against West Indies at Sabina Park starting on Monday.
Speedsters Munaf Patel and Raghavendra Rao have been chosen for a short training stint in Australia.
'Yes, there have not been any express fast bowlers that are coming from the MRF Pace Foundation that we used to have back in the years.' 'But that's not going to happen anymore. Now, in the next few years, you are gonna see a lot of really good fast bowlers coming out from the MRF Pace Foundation again.'
Yashasvi Jaiswal presented a heady cocktail of patience and flair on debut but India's expected series win over West Indies will not serve as an accurate parameter.
Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez completed Spain's domination of the race walks at the World Athletics Championships on Thursday.
India had other heroes as well whose contributions at different stages were extremely crucial, but have gone unnoticed in the 10 years since that glorious victory.
Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh make a comeback to the Indian team for the first three ODIs against Australia.
A look at how India have fared in their World Cup opening games.
However, most of the fringe players taking part are aware that they do not stand a fair chance of getting selected in the Indian side for the Pakistan ODIs even if they perform.
Rishabh Pant was hospitalised following a major car crash on Friday.
Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh will be among a host of former stars in the India Maharaja team which will take part in the inaugural edition of the Legends League Cricket (LLC), starting on January 20 in Oman.
Here is what Tendulkar had to say about his first interaction with Kohli.
Warne's Royal anecdotes: Handling Kaif's ego, figuring Munaf's age, nurturing Jadeja's talent
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