Nitish Kumar Reddy will have to wait for his international debut after he was sidelined from India’s T20I tour of Zimbabwe due to an injury. Shivam Dube will take his place in the 15-member squad.
While the BCCI did not specify the nature of Reddy’s injury, ESPNcricinfo has learned that he has been ruled out due to a hernia.
Reddy, a 21-year-old seam bowling allrounder, had earned his maiden India call-up after an impressive IPL 2024 season with Sunrisers Hyderabad. He made 303 runs in the season at a strike rate of 142.92, while also delivering 13.1 overs for three wickets.
In just his second innings of the season, he scored 64 off 37 balls against Punjab Kings, which took SRH to 182 and eventually helped them seal a two-run win. Reddy also scored an unbeaten 42-ball 76 against Rajasthan Royals in a group game later in the tournament. With the ball, his three wickets included Rishabh Pant, Tristan Stubbs and Jitesh Sharma.
Reddy has been a part of the BCCI’s target group of young players who have been under the NCA’s watch over the past year.
Dube is part of the India squad at the T20 World Cup 2024. While his numbers in the tournament so far have been middling: 106 runs in six matches with a strike rate of 107.07 and zero wickets, he had a tremendous IPL 2024. Coming in to bat primarily in the middle overs, he was Chennai Super Kings’ spin-hitter, finishing the season with 396 runs in 14 games, striking at 162.29. He was CSK’s second highest run-scorer behind Ruturaj Gaikwad.
India will play Zimbabwe in five T20Is in Harare which get underway on July 6. With the senior players rested, Shubman Gill will lead the squad which features Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Tushar Deshpande, all of whom received maiden India call-ups.
India squad for T20I series in Zimbabwe
Ꮪhubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande
