Delhi: A big change has been seen in the ongoing five-match T20 International series between India and Australia. Team India’s Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has been dropped from the team in the middle of the series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has issued a press release explaining the reason for this decision and has released the list of the new 15-member team.

Kuldeep Yadav released from T20 team

BCCI said that the team management has released Kuldeep Yadav from the T20 series, so that he can participate in the India A series against South Africa A. This series is being organized at the Center of Excellence of BCCI.

The board further said that this decision has been taken so that Kuldeep can get practice and experience of red-ball cricket for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. To prepare for Test matches, they are being given the opportunity to play red ball matches instead of T20.

Nitish Kumar Reddy got a chance in the team

In place of Kuldeep Yadav, BCCI has included Nitish Kumar Reddy in the Indian T20 team. Nitish has played four T20 matches for India so far, in which he has scored 90 runs at an average of 45. He also has a half century in his name. Nitish made his T20 International debut against Bangladesh on 6 October 2024.

status of the series

The ongoing T20 series between India and Australia is currently tied at 1-1. India performed brilliantly and won the third T20 match by 5 wickets. Now the fourth and fifth matches will prove to be decisive.

New Indian team for the fourth and fifth T20 matches

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakraborty, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.

India A team for the second four-day match

Rishabh Pant (captain, wicketkeeper), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Sai Sudarshan (vice-captain), Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khalil Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav.