The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (July 6) confirmed that Shivam Dube will replace the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy in the squad for the three-ODI series against England. Meanwhile,
the BCCI, while confirming the updated squad, removed the asterisk beside Virat Kohli’s name, suggesting the batting talisman has cleared his fitness test and will be fully available for the series.
Reddy was ruled out of India’s tours of Ireland and England because of a left quadriceps injury that aggravated during last month’s third ODI against Afghanistan in Chennai. The all-rounder has since been undergoing rehab at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, aiming to return for the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka in August.
Meanwhile, Kohli had been nursing a rare hamstring injury since the 2026 IPL final. He missed the ODIs against Afghanistan last month to regain his fitness. He was then spotted at the CoE, where he reportedly cleared his fitness test to confirm full availability for the series.
This is a crucial rubber for India as they look to build towards the 2027 ODI World Cup. Kohli and Rohit Sharma can afford no slip-ups in their performances as questions continue to be raised about their ability to maintain their best at the age of nearly or, in Rohit’s case, over 40.
For Dube, it’s a good opportunity to challenge for a place in the squad. Currently, he’s the third-choice all-rounder behind Hardik Pandya (also injured) and Nitish, but a good showing here could help him go up in the pecking order.
India’s updated ODI squad
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Shivam Dube
