IND vs AFG: Nitish Reddy in limelight as India look to fill the all-rounder slot

NEW DELHI: Concerns are growing in Indian cricket about the lack of all-rounders in the bowlers. The team management and selectors are forever on the lookout to find reinforcements for the injury-prone Hardik Pandya. Not even India’s dominant win over Afghanistan in the first T20I here on Sunday night could mask the big chink in their armour.Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube put on 51 runs in the three overs they bowled. More than the runs conceded, the fact that they only got to bowl after the four front-line bowlers had broken the back of the Afghan batting will be more worrying for the team management. Captain Shreyas Iyer went to Reddy first to bowl the fifth bowler’s quota but failed to throw the ball back to him after two overs.Understandably, Reddy is also returning from a three-month layoff due to injury, while Dube has bowled very little in the last two to three years. But it is an area that the Indian team management wants to cover once the preparations for the ODI World Cup begin after the Asian Games. In fact, the next T20I against Afghanistan on Tuesday and Thursday before the Asian Games will be an audition for Reddy.Pandya is still working at the Center of Excellence (CoE) on his fitness to play 10 overs in ODIs. But voters are crippled by injuries at every potential option. Reddy himself spends as much time in the CoE as Pandya. Now Suryansh Shedge and Venkatesh Iyer are revealed to be too nursing injuries. Harshit Rana also collapses frequently. It’s a bizarre situation for voters. Reddy is expected to be in Japan for the Asian Games when India play an ODI series against the West Indies at home later this month.It is not clear when Hardik will be declared fit for the international match. The next two matches here at Kotle thus become extremely crucial for both Reddy and Dube.

Varun dropped from Afghanistan series, new blow for CoE

Varun Chakravarthy has been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is against Afghanistan to be played on Tuesday and Thursday. Details of injuries are awaited.His participation in the upcoming Asian Games will be decided after the BCCI medical team assesses the injury. Chakravarthy’s injury is yet another blow to BCCI’s Center of Excellence (CoE) under cricket head VVS Laxman.

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