Who is Suryansh Shedge, Hardik Pandya’s Replacement in India A’s ODI Squad?

Hardik Pandya is out. Suryansh Shedge is in.

The all-rounder has been drafted into the India A squad for the three-match one-day series against Australia A after Pandya failed to recover from a fresh injury concern, Cricinfo reported.

Pandya had been named subject to fitness clearance. He has reportedly not been pain-free while bowling and has been away from competitive cricket since an injury during IPL 2026 in May. He has not played an ODI since the Champions Trophy final in March 2025.

WHO IS SHEDGE?

Shedge is a 23-year-old batting all-rounder from Mumbai. He hits from the lower order and bowls right-arm medium pace.

He has played three T20Is for India and 15 List A matches, nearly half of them for India A. His career-best List A score is 72 off 66 balls, made at No. 7 against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla in June, in a contest that went to a Super Over.

HOW HE GOT HERE

Shedge's breakout came in the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He scored 131 runs at a strike rate of 251.92 and took eight wickets as Mumbai won the title, according to the IPL's player profile. In the final against Madhya Pradesh he hit an unbeaten 36 off 15 balls.

Punjab Kings picked him up for his base price of Rs 30 lakh at the 2025 mega auction. In IPL 2026 he scored 158 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 176, with 12 sixes, according to Wisden.

His India call-up came the same way as this one. Injuries to Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy opened the door for his first selection, and he made his T20I debut against Ireland in Belfast in June 2026, Wisden reported.

WHAT ELSE HAS CHANGED

Left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Anukul Roy replaces Naman Dhir in the India A squad. Dhir has moved into India's T20I squad for the five-match series against the West Indies, taking the place of Washington Sundar. Washington was part of India's gold-medal-winning men's team at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya and could instead play for Tamil Nadu in their 2026-27 Ranji Trophy opener against Rajasthan, subject to selection.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is part of India's ODI squad for the ongoing series against the West Indies, will captain India A. Devdutt Padikkal, who led India A in the preceding red-ball series against Australia A, is his deputy.

Australia A have made two changes of their own. Riley Meredith and Will Sutherland come in for Jack Edwards and Aaron Hardie. Edwards left the Australia A setup last month to join the senior team in South Africa, where he made his ODI debut. Hardie is out with a minor knee complaint.

THE SCHEDULE

The first ODI is a day-night game on October 6, starting at 2 pm local time. The second and third are on October 9 and 11, both starting at 9 am.

India A squad: 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 squad: 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.

With inputs from ANI