IND vs SA: BCCI Announces Nitish Kumar Reddy's Release From 1st Test Squad, Names Him For India 'A' One-Day Series

India vs South Africa: BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India) on Wednesday released Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy from the India squad for the first Test against South Africa. Notably, India will take on South Africa in the first Test at the iconic Eden Gardens on Friday. Also, Reddy has been named in the India 'A' squad for One-Day matches against South Africa 'A'.

BCCI also stated that Reddy will make a move back to the second test post the conclusion of the 'A' series.

In a statement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said, "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. The three One-days between India A and South Africa A will take place from 13th to 19th November at the Niranjan Shah Stadium."

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In the previous Test series against the West Indies, Nitish bowled four overs without taking any wickets in Ahmedabad and then scored 43 runs in Delhi. Over the course of nine Tests, he scored 386 runs with an average of 29.69, including one century, and has taken eight wickets with an average exceeding 39.

His last outing for India was during the ODI series against Australia, scoring 19* and 8 in two ODIs at Perth and Adelaide, and not managing a wicket across these matches.

During the pre-match presser, Indian assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate had hinted that the all-rounder could miss the match, with the team favouring to test the combination of Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel, two star wicketkeepers playing alongside each other for the first time.

"I said strategy comes first. The primary thing is to set out a strategy to win the game. If you can accommodate giving guys a chance for development, that comes in. Our position has not changed on Nitish. He did not get much game time in Australia. But given the importance of this series and the conditions we think we are going to face, he might miss out this week," the 45-year-old said.

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India's updated squad for first Test: 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.

Inputs from Agency