Nitish Kumar Reddy released from India's 1st Test squad, to feature in India A team one-dayers

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 12 (ANI): Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been released from India's squad for the first Test against South Africa set to take place in Kolkata's Eden Gardens from Friday onwards, with the youngster set to feature in three-one-dayers between India A and South Africa A sides taking place from November 13 to 19.
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."
Reddy will return to the squad for the second Test post the conclusion of the 'A' series.
Nitish last featured in the Test series against West Indies at home, going wicketless in a four-over spell at Ahmedabad and following it with a knock of 43 at Delhi. In nine Tests, he has scored 386 runs at an average of 29.69, with a century to his name and taken eight wickets at an average of above 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.
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. (ANI)