Nitish Reddy ruled out of Ireland T20Is, unlikely for England tour as well

India have been dealt a big blow ahead of their tour of the United Kingdom. All-rounder Nitish Reddy has been ruled out of the Ireland and England series due to a quadriceps injury.

In Short

• India suffer big blow to their UK tour
• Nitish Reddy has been ruled out of the series
• India do not have the services of Hardik Pandya for the tours as well

India have been dealt another blow to their all-rounder stocks ahead of the T20I series against Ireland and England. In-form Nitish Reddy has been ruled out of the upcoming white-ball tour of the United Kingdom with a quadriceps injury. IndiaToday.in has learnt that the fast-bowling all-rounder has suffered an injury to his left quadriceps and has been ruled out of the series.

Reddy was expected to be a key member of the Indian squad for the tour of the UK due to the absence of Hardik Pandya, who has not taken the field since the end of the Indian Premier League. Pandya is also suffering from a quadriceps niggle and is not in a condition to bowl.

"Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the Ireland series. The MRI has revealed swelling with fibre disruption in the left quadriceps. He has been asked to report at COE for further assessment," the medical bulletin in possession of PTI stated.

PTI further reported that Reddy will take a minimum of four weeks, with the recovery timeline expected to go beyond that period to complete his rehabilitation.

INDIA'S UPDATED T20I SQUAD vs IRELAND

Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (Vice-Captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prasidh Krishna.

* BCCI is yet to announce a replacement for Nitish Reddy

Nitish's injury was initially reported after the first ODI against Ireland, where the bowler had bowled four overs and taken two key wickets. Afghanistan's centurion from the first game — Rahmanullah Gurbaz — was not able to survive Nitish's yorker barrage and lost his wicket in the 16th over of the match.

The 23-year-old did not play the second match, with bowling coach Morne Morkel informing that Nitish was suffering from a slight injury, which was not serious in nature. Nitish returned to bowl in the final ODI of the series, where he bowled six overs without taking a wicket.

Nitish Reddy has shown visible improvement with his bowling in recent times. In an earlier interview with IndiaToday.in, Nitish had claimed that if he improved his bowling, he had the ability to match the level of Hardik Pandya.

In the endeavour to achieve that goal, Nitish recently worked with fast-bowling coach Steffan Jones, who helped him get more front-on and increase his speed from the late 120 kmph range to a brisk mid-130 kmph.

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