The Indian all-rounder did not bowl a single over in the second Test.
The Indian team has had a near perfect series victory against the West Indies. The hosts capped the series off with a seven-wicket win over the visitors. The most important debatable point happens to be the under-utilization of all-rounder Nitish Reddy.
The quality of the pitch used in Delhi would be under the scanner, over which head coach Gautam Gambhir expressed his opinions in the post-match interviews. After gaining a 270-run lead in the first innings, India enforced the follow-on. The West Indies showed some impressive fight, but eventually succumbed to hand India a target of just over a 100 runs.
In both the Tests combined, the Indian all-rounder managed to bowl just four overs. Though he was promoted up the order in the first innings of the second Test in Delhi, his lack of bowling exposure leaves a certain dent in the minds of the Indian fans. Having said that, head coach Gambhir clarified his thoughts on the matter.
The fact that India have unearthed a great all-rounder in Nitish Reddy would hold them in good stead. The 22-year-old player from Andhra Pradesh has proven his potential at the highest level with a magnificent century against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last year.
Though the Indian management has shown confidence in him for the home series as well, his effectiveness with the ball in hand isn’t quite visible. That is mainly because the all-rounder hasn’t got any chance to prove himself with the ball. Nitish bowled decently in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, and was also swinging the ball around.
The problem is not the potential, but as per Gambhir, how many overs Nitish bowls is not important to test his metrics of being successful in the format. The Indian head coach voiced that the young all-rounder is getting a good amount of exposure in home Tests as well, which will bode well for him and the team in the future.
“We don’t want to use a 23-year-old boy just on tough tours away from home. That’s not going to be fair on him, that we decide to play him only in overseas tour, be it Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, or England. I think when he’s done well overseas, he deserves a go in home conditions as well”, said Gambhir.
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It is tough to think of when India had the services of a fast bowling all-rounder in Tests. The most recent would be Hardik Pandya, but he could not sustain the position for too long either. Overall, fast bowling all-rounders is an extremely rare commodity, and Nitish Reddy will need to be used properly by the Indians in order to get the best value out of him.
The biggest advantage? Age is on his side. He is just 22, and has a very bright future ahead of him. Moreover, he has shown his qualities of batting with the tail, which is one of the prerequisites for a batter in the lower-middle order. Unless India are planning to play Nitish Reddy at No.5 consistently, which will be difficult after Rishabh Pant returns to the mix.
One of the better things India did in the second Test against the West Indies was to promote Nitish Reddy at No.5 in the first innings. The youngster looked very promising before he ended up slicing a delivery to long-on while he was in the 40s. His bowling has also been impressive and he has shown that he can swing the ball both ways. And hence, it will be important to see how India use him over the next few years.
“And wherever we can get the opportunity to put him in Indian conditions, we’ll continue to do that because it’s important for us to groom someone like Nitish because you know that there are not many seen bowling all-rounders”, concluded Gambhir.
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