This is the first international call-up for Nigam, who first came into the limelight during IPL 2025. Playing for Delhi Capitals, he took 11 wickets in 14 games this season at an economy rate of 9.12 and also scored 142 runs at a strike rate of 179.74.
Meanwhile, Varun suffered an injury in his very first game after returning due to a hamstring problem. He was initially ruled out of the remainder of the Afghanistan series and was expected to go to the Asian Games. But this is no longer the case.
In Varun’s absence, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi are likely to be India’s best spinners, with Washington Sundar and Nigam available as back-up players.
India’s updated squad for Japan T20Is and Asian Games
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yash Thakur, Vipraj Nigam