Nitish Kumar Reddy Released From India Squad For First South Africa Test

BCCI have confirmed that all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been released from India’s squad for the first Test against South Africa at the Eden Gardens, starting November 14 (Friday). The all-rounder will instead now feature for India ‘A’ in the three-match unofficial ODI series against South Africa ‘A’, which starts from November 13 (Thursday) in Rajkot. 

“All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been released from India’s squad for the first Test against South Africa. Nitish will join the India A squad for the One-day series against South Africa A in Rajkot,” BCCI confirmed in a release.

“Reddy will return to the squad for the second Test post the conclusion of the 'A' series.”

Reddy being released means that India’s XI for the first Test in Kolkata is all but locked, with Dhruv Jurel set to play as a specialist batter. Jurel has been in spectacular form, with four hundreds in his last five first-class matches, and he recently hit twin tons for India ‘A’ in the second unofficial Test against South Africa ‘A’ in Bengaluru.

As far as the India ‘A’ team is concerned, it will be led by Tilak Varma, with Ruturaj Gaikwad serving as vice-captain. It’s set to feature some massive names such as Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and others.

India's updated squad for first Test vs South Africa

Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep

India A’s updated squad for one-day series 

Tilak Varma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Manav Suthar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy.