Kuldeep Yadav recalled to India T20I squad; Nitish Kumar Reddy withdrawn from Asian Games

Kuldeep Yadav was recalled to India’s T20I squad for the five-match series against the West Indies, announced by the BCCI on Wednesday, September 16, and Nitish Kumar Reddy has been withdrawn from India’s Asian Games squad.

Kuldeep last represented India in T20Is during the T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan in Colombo and had been left out of the following four assignments. He featured in the Sri Lanka Test series but was omitted for the second Test in favour of Saransh Jain. After missing selection for the Afghanistan series and the Asian Games, Kuldeep went to the county championship and took a 10-wicket haul for Yorkshire against Essex.

Kuldeep has played 54 T20I matches for India and has taken 95 wickets in the format. India will be without Varun Chakravarthy for an indefinite period after he sustained a side strain during the ongoing Afghanistan T20Is, a development that coincides with Kuldeep’s return to the limited-overs setup.

The T20I squad named by the BCCI includes Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav and Mayank Yadav. The board also stated that Jasprit Bumrah will be rested for the series.

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s withdrawal from the Asian Games squad is because he has been called into India’s ODI squad for the three-match series against the West Indies, with Nitish expected to be the replacement for Hardik Pandya after the latter failed to get fit in time for the series. The BCCI added that there has been no replacement named for Nitish in the Asian Games squad.

"Varun Chakaravarthy has been ruled out of the upcoming Japan T20I and the Asian Games owing to a side strain. The Men’s Selection Committee has named Vipraj Nigam as his replacement. Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was originally included in the Asian Games squad, has been withdrawn and will feature in the ODI series against the West Indies," read the BCCI statement.

The five-match T20I series against the West Indies is scheduled to begin on 6th October, immediately following the completion of the Asian Games.