New Delhi, Jan 25: Seam-bowling all-rounder Shivam Dube will join India’s T20I squad for the ongoing five-match series against England after fellow all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy picked up an injury ahead of the second T20I to be played here on Saturday evening.

Sources in the BCCI told IANS that Reddy picked up a side strain during the Indian team’s practice session at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday and that the recovery time after the scans were done, is currently standing at three to four weeks.

As a result, the Indian team has now called up Dube to join the side ahead of the third T20I, to be held in Rajkot on January 28. Dube was part of India winning the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup last year in the West Indies and the USA. He last played for India in August 2024, when the side was playing an ODI series in Sri Lanka.

He then missed India's 3-0 T20I series win against Bangladesh due to a back injury, which kept him out of the initial stage of the Ranji Trophy too. Dube was back in action for Mumbai in the 2024/25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he scored 151 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 179.76 and took three wickets at an economy of 9.31, as the side won the title. Dube recently played for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy match against Jammu and Kashmir, where he got out for a duck in both innings while picking a scalp as Mumbai suffered a five-wicket defeat at the Sharad Pawar MCA Cricket Academy Ground in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) on Saturday.

India won the first T20I against England at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata by seven wickets and 43 balls remaining. In that game, Reddy took two catches, including a superb diving catch, but did not get to bowl or bat.

Ahead of the second T20I in Chennai, India also had an injury scare when left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma twisted his right ankle and was seen limping in the practice session, raising doubts over his availability for Saturday’s game.

(IANS)

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