India allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the remainder of the tour of England after suffering an injury in his left knee. ESPNcricinfo had reported on Sunday that Reddy had picked up the injury while training in the gym, and a BCCI update on Monday morning confirmed he was out of the series and would fly back home.*
The same BCCI release also stated left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh had been ruled out of the fourth Test after sustaining an impact injury to his left thumb while bowling in the nets in Beckenham. He is being monitored by the BCCI medical team and the selectors have added Haryana seam bowler Anshul Kamboj to the squad.
The development is another blow to India's preparations for the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in Manchester, which starts on July 23, with fast bowler Akash Deep also nursing an injury that could keep him out of the match.
All this comes in addition to workload-management concerns limiting Jasprit Bumrah to just three out of the five Tests of the series. Bumrah played the first and third Tests, and India have indicated that they are "leaning towards" including him at Old Trafford, with the players getting an eight-day break between the third and fourth Tests.
After sitting out the series-opener in Leeds, Reddy played the second and third Tests. He did not make much of an impact in Birmingham, with just two runs and six wicketless overs. He, however, took crucial top-order wickets at Lord's, sending back openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the same over in the first innings, and dismissing Crawley again in the second, while scoring 30 and 13 with the bat.
Reddy would have fancied his chances of playing the fourth Test, though he may have potentially contested for a spot with Dhruv Jurel, who could be in contention to play as wicketkeeper at Old Trafford in case Rishabh Pant, who is recovering from a finger injury, has to play as a specialist batter.
India have played a seam-bowling allrounder in all three Tests so far, with Shardul Thakur playing the first Test before Reddy replaced him in Birmingham. Thakur could return at Old Trafford if India want to keep the same combination as Reddy is now unavailable.
England lead the series 2-1 going into the fourth Test.
*0630 GMT: The story was updated after the BCCI issued a release