Injuries continue to plague the Indian cricket team in the ongoing T20I series against England. Already doubts persist over whether Mohammed Shami, after missing the first match that the hosts won in Kolkata, will be available for the second match in Chennai on Saturday. In the midst of this, BCCI has said fast-bowling allrounder Nitish Reddy has not recovered from an injury. In his place, Shivam Dube – member of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad – has been called up.
Dube featured in the recent Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Jammu and Kashmir, which the former lost. Dube was ignored for the T20I series against England. Dube travelled to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka for the T20I series after the World Cup triumph but was ignored for the subsequent home series against Bangladesh, as well as the away tour of South Africa.
Rinku Singh has also been ruled out of the second and third T20Is.
“All-rounder Nitish Reddy sustained a side strain injury in the practice session on 24th January in Chennai. He is ruled out of the ongoing 5-match T20I series. Reddy will head to the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for further management,” the BCCI said.
“Rinku Singh sustained a low back spasm while fielding in the 1st T20I against England on 22nd January. He is progressing well and the BCCI medical team is monitoring him closely. He is ruled out of the 2nd and 3rd games of the ongoing 5-match T20I series.
“The Senior Selection Committee has included Shivam Dube and Ramandeep Singh in the squad.”
“What happened to Shivam Dube? I wanted to talk about Ruturaj (Gaikwad) as well but he is not able to make his place. Rajat Patidar is also there. Obviously, there is a lot of batting. However, now I am going to focus a little bit on Shivam Dube. He was a member of the T20 World Cup-winning team,” Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener, said on his YouTube channel.
“When you win, everyone should get the credit. He even played decently in the final. Before that, there were definitely some questions that he wasn’t fielding or batting well. However, then he played well and became the T20 World Cup champion.”
Nitish Reddy recently made a great Test debut in the Border Gavaskar Trophy that ended earlier this month scoring a ton at the Melbourne cricket ground.
Chopra also felt Dube deserved a longer rope in the team, especially with the southpaw playing a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup triumph.
“After that, he remained injured a little, didn’t get too many opportunities either, and is now out of the team. No one is talking about him as well. Riyan Parag is not being talked about because he is injured but no one is asking where Dube went. He suddenly disappeared from the horizon,” Chopra questioned.
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.
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