MUMBAI: All-rounder Shivam Dube has replaced Nitish Kumar Reddy in the Indian squad with the latter ruled out of the ongoing home T20I series against England due to a side strain injury.
Dube was on Saturday asked to join the Indian team at Rajkot for the third T20I between India and England, which will be played on Tuesday night at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
"Yes, Nitish Kumar Reddy is injured. He has developed a side strain which is likely to rule him out for the next month or so. This is the reason Dube has been called up by the Indian team. He is flying to Rajkot on Sunday," a source in the BCCI confirmed to TOI.
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Team India is also facing injury worries with opener Abhishek Sharma, who twisted his ankle and middle-order batter Rinku Singh.
Rinku sustained a low back spasm while fielding in the opener vs England on 22nd January and has been ruled out of the 2nd and 3rd games of the ongoing series.
The selection committee has added Ramandeep Singh as a substitute for Rinku, a BCCI release said.
Nitish didn’t bat or bowl in the first T20I against England at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which India won by seven wickets.
Incidentally, Dube was out for a ‘King Pair’ (0 & 0) against Jammu & Kashmir in Mumbai’s shocking five-wicket defeat to the northern side in their Ranji Trophy match at the Sharad Pawar Academy in BKC. He took one for 30 in seven overs with the ball in J&K’s first innings and didn’t bowl in the second innings.
Dube has played 33 T20Is, in which he has scored 448 runs at a strike rate of 134.93, with a highest score of 63 not out, besides taking 11 wickets with a best haul of 3 for 30.
The 31-year-old was a part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning side last year in the West Indies and USA, and played his last T20I against Sri Lanka at Pallekele on July 30, 2024.
The big-hitter was axed thereafter, and initially ignored for this series too, before being called-up on Friday for the remainder of the T20I home series against England.
India’s updated squad for the T20I series against England: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Axar Patel (VC), Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shivam Dube, Ramandeep Singh.
