India’s young pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is yet to begin his rehabilitation with just two weeks to go into the ODI series against England.
As per a report by TOI, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) medical team has advised the 23-year-old to rest for an extended period.
The new update puts a question mark on Reddy’s availability for the ODI series. India are already without the services of experienced all-rounder Hardik Pandya who is currently at Centre of Excellence (CoE), Bengaluru, following a performance block route to regain fitness.
Earlier this month, Reddy was ruled out of the T20I series in Ireland and England due to discomfort in left quadriceps he suffered in the ODI series against Afghanistan. He had missed the second ODI of the series due to a sore left thigh as well but returned to play in the dead rubber.
Shedge to replace Reddy in ODIs too?
The ODI series begins on July 14 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Currently, India don’t have an experienced all-rounder to replace Pandya. Suryansh Shedge, who replaced Shedge in the T20I side, proved his mettle in the One-Day tri-series on Sri Lankan soil. He made his T20I debut in the second T20I against Ireland, conceding 25 runs from two overs and scoring a single run from five balls in the unsuccessful run chase.
So far, Shedge has played 15 List A games. From 13 innings, he has scored 258 runs, averaging 21.50. His strike rate is 101.97. His only List A fifty came against Sri Lanka A. With the ball, he has 11 wickets at an average of 29.63, including a four-fer.
Dube to make comeback?
The other option India have is Shivam Dube. He has been impressive with the ball. Against Ireland in the T20I series, he bagged three wickets. He can add firepower to the lower-middle order as well. His previous ODI appearance was against Sri Lanka in 2024. The 33-year-old has played four ODIs so far.
India squad for England ODIs
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar.