Shivam Dube out of Bangladesh T20Is; Tilak named replacement

All-rounder Shivam Dube was ruled out of India’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh starting October 6 (Sunday) due to a back injury. The Senior Selection Committee of BCCI announced Tilak Varma as Dube's replacement. The Hyderabad batter will join the squad in Gwalior on the morning of the match.

Dube was part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning squad and has played 33 T20Is and four ODIs for the Men in Blue. He has been a regular in the T20I side, majorly as Hardik Pandya’s backup. Pandya is part of this series against Bangladesh which naturally compensated for Dube’s absence. However, now India lose the liberty of resting Pandya if they want his seam-bowling all-round skills. 

Tilak, meanwhile, has featured in 16 T20Is and four ODIs for India, the last of which came against Afghanistan in January this year. He has been on the side lines since as India opted to play their World Cup candidates in white-ball cricket. However, he continued to impress in the Indian Premier League (IPL), averaging 41.6 for Mumbai Indians at a strike rate of 149.6. 

The three-match series begins in Gwalior with the subsequent games in Delhi (October 9) and Hyderabad (October 12). 

India’s updated squad for the T20I series against Bangladesh:

Suryakumar Yadav ( c ), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, JItesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav, Tilak Varma