Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has noted that all-rounder Suryansh Shedge could be a like-for-like swap for Nitish Kumar Reddy if the latter gets ruled out of the three-match T20I series vs Afghanistan, starting on September 13 in Delhi.
The current Indian squad for the Afghanistan series includes Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana. However, all four of them are subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE).
“They have made up their mind to go with an almost full-strength Indian team. This team is along the expected lines. The big thing is the names after which a star has been placed, which means those players might not be available, or if they get a fitness certificate from the Center of Excellence (CoE), then they will participate,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“The first name in that is Nitish Kumar Reddy’s. Hardik (Pandya) isn’t available in any case. Suryansh Shedge was given chances in place of NKR on the England tour. The expectation was that NKR would return if he became fit, but is he fully fit? We don’t know yet. So it could be a like-for-like swap. If Nitish Kumar Reddy isn’t declared fit, Suryansh Shedge could walk into the team again,” he added.
Shedge managed to score only eight runs and went wicketless in seven overs during the UK tour. Reddy suffered a quadriceps injury during the Afghanistan ODI series in June 2026.
India squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*
NOTE: * Subject to fitness clearance
