Nitish was unavailable for the third ODI.
Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is not playing the third ODI against Australia in Sydney. He made his ODI debut in Perth and played the first two games as a pace-bowling all-rounder in Hardik Pandya’s absence.
The BCCI released a statement confirming Nitish sustained a left quadriceps injury while playing the second ODI in Adelaide and wasn’t fit to participate in the final game. It is a massive blow for India, who are already without Hardik Pandya due to an injury.
“Nitish Kumar R eddy 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.”
Despite being highly fit, Nitish’s recent injury history has been concerning: he has already sustained a side strain in January, a left knee injury on the England tour, and now a left quadriceps injury in Australia. For India, Hardik has already been highly vulnerable and often sustains major injuries despite playing only red-ball formats, with Nitish slowly developing a similar pattern, which is not a great sign in the long run.
Nitish Kumar Reddy is the only pace-bowling all-rounder in India’s ODI squad, and his unavailability has surely imbalanced their XI. His presence gave India more flexibility and options to work with, but India are now left with only spin-bowling all-rounders to add batting depth.
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They have made the right choice by bringing in Kuldeep Yadav as the third spinner because slow bowlers have had enough assistance in Sydney. Further, Kuldeep is skilled enough to succeed in any venue and should have been in the side from the first game onwards.
While they get a batter less, India have ensured maximising their resources and having enough bowling options to work with, which is not a bad idea. They don’t have the option to replace Nitish anyway, so it’s wise to strengthen a particular department.
Nitish is also part of the T20I series, which starts soon after the ODI rubber, but his availability will surely be in jeopardy after a fresh bout of injury. If he doesn’t play, India will only have Shivam Dube in the pace-bowling all-rounder department, and his bowling value will be more crucial across five T20Is.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Australia: Mitchell Marsh(c), Travis Head, Matthew Short, Matt Renshaw, Alex Carey(w), Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
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