NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of India’s Twenty20 International series against Ireland and England due to injury, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Tuesday.

Suryansh Shedge has been named as his replacement, with Reddy’s absence leaving India short of a frontline pace-bowling all-rounder for the series.

Reddy reported discomfort on his left quadriceps following the third One-day International against Afghanistan on Saturday and has been advised to undergo a period of rehabilitation, the BCCI added.

Shedge, 23, comes in as a batting all-rounder and got the call-up after scoring 147 runs in five matches for India A in the recently concluded tri-series in Sri Lanka.

India face Ireland in two T20Is in Belfast on June 26 and June 28 before travelling to England for a five-match series in July.

Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi donned his first official India jersey and said he had long dreamed of the moment.

Sooryavanshi was named in India’s T20 squad for the tours to Ireland and England, as well as the Asian Games, after sweeping the batting honours in this year’s Indian Premier League.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a video of the moment on Tuesday when the blue jersey was delivered to him, calling it “the moment the nation has been waiting for”.

“Ever since I first held a bat and walked onto a cricket field to practise, I dreamed of this moment… I cannot explain this feeling in words,” Sooryavanshi said in the BCCI video.

Sooryavanshi is in line to become India’s youngest international player, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar, the batting great who made his Test debut aged 16 years and 205 days in 1989.

The spotlight has been on Sooryavanshi since his batting exploits in the IPL, where he amassed 776 runs for Rajasthan Royals to finish as the tournament’s leading run scorer. He struck one century and five half-centuries during the season to pick up the Orange Cap for the leading run-getter.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2026