 "Nitish Kumar Reddy is not playing for India in the third ODI against Australia at Sydney. Image: AP")
Kuldeep Yadav finally got a chance in the ODIs as he was included in India’s playing XI for the third ODI against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday (25 October). However, his inclusion could be a result of an unfortunate injury to all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
India made two changes to their playing XI for the third ODI . Kuldeep and Prasidh Krishna have replaced Nitish Kumar Reddy and Arshdeep Singh. While it was initially felt that Nitish’s absence was a tactical decision to play Kuldeep at spin-friendly Sydney, it has now emerged that Nitish Reddy has suffered a quadriceps injury.
Why is Nitish Reddy not playing in 3rd IND vs AUS ODI?
The BCCI has released a media update on the 22-year-old Nitish, informing that he suffered the injury during the second ODI in Adelaide. He is currently being monitored by the BCCI medical team.
“Nitish Kumar Reddy sustained a left quadriceps injury during the second ODI in Adelaide and was subsequently unavailable for selection for the third ODI. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring him on a daily basis,” the BCCI said.
Nitish had failed to pick a single wicket in the first two matches with his medium-pace bowling and scored 27 runs.
It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of captain Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir on Reddy’s performance in his debut ODI series as many experts had demanded they drop the Andhra Pradesh player in favour of Kuldeep.
Meanwhile, Australia have won the toss and decided to bat first in the third ODI. They are already 2-0 ahead in the series after winning the first and second ODIs by seven and two wickets respectively.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAustralia playing XI: Mitchell Marsh (c), Travis Head, Matthew Short, Matthew Renshaw, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
India’s playing XI: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj