India’s tour of England has been dealt another setback. Allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is expected to miss the remainder of the series after suffering a knee injury during a gym session on Sunday.
Scans confirmed ligament damage, according to sources familiar with the matter. This leaves India with a shrinking pool of fit fast-bowling options just days ahead of the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, scheduled to begin July 23 in Manchester.
Fast bowlers Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are also recovering from injuries and may not be available. In response, Anshul Kamboj has been brought into the squad as a backup seamer.
Jasprit Bumrah, who has been on a managed workload across the series, is expected to return for the fourth match after skipping the second and being rested following the third. India’s camp appears inclined to include him at Old Trafford, with an eight-day break between the last two Tests offering recovery time.
Reddy featured in the second and third Tests after sitting out the opener in Leeds. While his outing in Birmingham was quiet — he scored just two runs and failed to take a wicket — he had more impact at Lord’s. There, he removed both England openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, in a single over during the first innings and dismissed Crawley again in the second. He also contributed 30 and 13 with the bat.
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The 21-year-old might have had a shot at retaining his place for Manchester, depending on the balance of the squad. Wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel is also in the mix, particularly if Rishabh Pant, still nursing a finger injury, plays as a specialist batter.
So far, India have used a seam-bowling allrounder in every Test this series. Shardul Thakur started in Leeds, with Reddy replacing him for the next two matches. If India keep that structure, Thakur is the likely candidate to return.
With England ahead 2–1 and two Tests left, India’s selection committee must rethink its strategy amid injury troubles and performance gaps.
