Delhi: On Wednesday, September 16, BCCI made another change in the Indian cricket team's squad for the Asian Games 2026. Earlier, mystery spinner Varun Chakraborty was out of the tournament due to injury. Now the name of young right-handed all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has also been removed from the Asian Games team. No new player has been included in his place.

Nitish has not been dropped from the team due to any injury.

According to the information released by BCCI, he has been selected in the Indian team for the ODI series against West Indies. For this reason his name has been withdrawn from the Asian Games squad.

Also see: Rest of India announced for Irani Cup 2026, Pant becomes captain, Sarfaraz gets vice-captaincy

After this change, now only 14 players are left in the Indian team going to Japan. The same team will also take the field in the historic T20 International match against Japan on 22 September.

What did BCCI tell about Nitish Reddy?

BCCI clarified in its statement that Nitish Kumar Reddy was earlier a part of the Asian Games squad, but now he has been withdrawn from that team.

He will be part of the Indian team selected for the ODI series against West Indies. At the same time, Varun Chakraborty is out of the Asian Games due to injury. In his place, young spinner Vipraj Nigam has been included in the team.

In this way, two major changes were seen in the Indian squad of the Asian Games in a single day on Wednesday. First Vipraj Nigam came in place of Varun and after this Nitish Reddy was released from the team.

Team India will face Japan on September 22

The Indian team selected for the Asian Games 2026 also has to play a special match in Japan on 22 September. This T20 International match between India and Japan is being considered special for both the teams.

The command of India will be in the hands of Shreyas Iyer, while Tilak Verma has been made the vice-captain. There are two wicketkeeping options in the team in the form of Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan.

Also see: Team India announced for West Indies ODI series, know which players have returned

India's 14-member squad for Asian Games 2026

Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Tilak Verma (vice-captain), Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Yash Thakur.