Nitish Reddy Injured to Miss India’s Tour of Zimbabwe; Shivam Dube Announced Replacement

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named all-rounder Shivam Dube as the replacement for the injured Nitish Reddy in India’s T20 squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe.

India will play five T20Is at the Harare Sports Club in Harare from July 6.

The BCCI, in a statement, confirmed the replacement and said that it is closely monitoring Nitish’s rehab. “The men’s selection committee named Shivam Dube as a replacement for the injured Nitish Reddy in India’s squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe,” the BCCI said in a statement.

After the current ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 concludes, a young Indian team under the leadership of Shubman Gill and without any senior players will travel to Zimbabwe. The selection committee rewarded youngsters, who sizzled in the Indian Premier League, with national call-ups. Accordingly, Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish were given maiden India call-ups.

In the IPL 2024, the 21-year-old Nitish scored 303 runs at an average of 33.67 and a strike rate of 142.92. He was a vital cog in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s middle order and was one of the youngsters to look out for.

He shot into the limelight with a 42-ball 76, with eight sixes and three fours, against the Rajasthan Royals and helped his team earn a win in that match. The 21-year-old picked up three wickets with his medium pace bowling, including 2/17 against the Delhi Capitals, in his second IPL match.

He was awarded the Emerging Player of the Season title for his exploits in the IPL 2024.

The Zimbabwe tour is a good chance for players on the fringes of national call-ups to prove their worth as senior players,, including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been granted rest keeping in mind a gruelling season ahead.

Updated India squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande and Shivam Dube.