Young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been selected by India bowling coach Morne Morkel as the player to “keep an eye on” at the forthcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. As the series opener in Perth draws nearer by the hour, the excitement surrounding the match between the two Test titans has been immense.
Morkel added another name to the mix, even if Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, and captain Rohit Sharma are predicted to be the series’ decisive players. Before Friday’s first Test, Morkel told reporters in Perth that Nitish is “definitely a guy to keep an eye on in the series.” With a fantastic all-around performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the young player made his debut.
In 13 games while playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Nitish amassed 303 runs at an average of 33.67. His unrelenting power-hitting ability was what really stood out, even if he contributed three wickets.
Nitish’s inclusion in the BGT series surprised many because he has only played in 23 first-class matches.
It was clear that the management wanted to develop Nitish as the seam bowling option that India most wanted as quickly as possible.
“He [Nitish Reddy] is one of the young guys. [There’s] all-round ability. He’ll be one guy who can hold one end up for us, especially for the first couple of days,” Morkel said. “[He’s a] wicket-to-wicket bowler. Any team in the world would want an all-rounder who can help pacers. It’ll be on Jasprit [Bumrah] how he uses them,” Morkel added.
If one looks at Nitish’s performance in red-ball cricket, he seems to be a bit undercooked to feature in one of the biggest Test series.
Nitish has scored 779 runs in the 23 matches at an average of just 21.05. He has had a greater impact with the ball, taking 56 wickets at an average of 26.98. Nitish had a poor performance in the recent unofficial Test match between Australia A and India A, taking just one wicket in four innings and scoring a highest score of 38. (ANI)