Suryansh Shedge has been lined up to replace the injured Hardik Pandya for India A's three-match one-day series against Australia A in Puducherry, stretching Hardik's 50-over absence past 19 months.
Hardik Pandya's return to one-day cricket has been pushed back again. He was named in the original India A one-day squad, subject to fitness clearance, but a fresh injury has scuppered his plans. Suryansh Shedge, 23, a medium-pace-bowling allrounder, has been lined up to take his place for the three-match series against Australia A in Puducherry, according to ESPNcricinfo.
| India A vs Australia A, one-day series (Puducherry) | |
|---|---|
| 1st ODI | Tuesday 6 October 2026, day-night, 2pm local time |
| 2nd ODI | 9 October 2026, day game, 9am local time |
| 3rd ODI | 11 October 2026, day game, 9am local time |
| India A captain | Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain Devdutt Padikkal) |
| India A change | Suryansh Shedge replaces Hardik Pandya; Anukul Roy replaces Naman Dhir |
| Australia A change | Riley Meredith and Will Sutherland replace Jack Edwards and Aaron Hardie |
A comeback that keeps stalling
Hardik has not been pain-free while bowling, which extends an absence that began in May during IPL 2026. He has not played one-day cricket since the Champions Trophy final in March 2025, so his 50-over exile now runs past 19 months.
As for the injury itself, IANS and other outlets have reported discomfort in his right calf on 19 September 2026, with an MRI said to have revealed very mild intramedullary edema, consistent with right medial tibial stress syndrome. These details are as reported by those outlets and have not been confirmed here.
Who is Suryansh Shedge?
Shedge has played three T20Is. He made his T20I debut during India's tour of Ireland in June 2026 and also featured in the T20I series against England and Zimbabwe. Nearly half of his 15 List A games have come for India A, and in June he scored 147 runs across five outings for India A in Sri Lanka.
His best List A moment so far is a career-best 72 off 66 balls from No. 7 in a chaotic Super-Over finish against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla in June 2026. He has just recovered from a quadriceps injury at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Other changes on both sides
In another change, left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Anukul Roy replaces Naman Dhir, who has been picked in India's T20I squad for the five-match series against West Indies, taking Washington Sundar's spot. Sundar could instead play Tamil Nadu's 2026-27 Ranji Trophy opener against Rajasthan, if picked.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was part of India's ODI squad against West Indies, captains India A, with Devdutt Padikkal as vice-captain. Padikkal made his India A captaincy debut during the preceding red-ball series.
Australia A have made changes too. Riley Meredith and Will Sutherland are added for the three matches, replacing Jack Edwards, who left the squad last month to join the senior team in South Africa, where he made his ODI debut, and Aaron Hardie, who is ruled out with a minor knee complaint.
| Squads | |
|---|---|
| India A | Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Devdutt Padikkal (vice-capt), Priyansh Arya, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Rajat Patidar, Prabhsimran Singh, B Sai Sudharsan, Anukul Roy, Arshin Kulkarni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Arshad Khan, Gurjapneet Singh, Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur |
| Australia A | Mahli Beardman, Nikhil Chaudhary, Ben Dwarshuis, Spencer Johnson, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Riley Meredith, Todd Murphy, Mitch Owen, Josh Philippe (wk), Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachlan Shaw, Will Sutherland |
Always have a backup in your draft
This is the BuildXI lesson: availability is a risk, and a star name on paper only helps if he is on the field. You spin eleven real IPL squads from 2008 to 2025, take one player from each, and play fourteen league games with the XI you end up with. When a pick carries a question mark, an allrounder who can fill more than one role gives your side cover, much as Shedge now gets the opening here. The target is 14-0: fourteen games, fourteen wins.