Former India batter Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on Nitish, talking about how he can solve India’s search for a pace-bowling all-rounder in Test cricket.
Nitish Kumar Reddy has been India’s biggest positive on this Australia tour, even though the results haven’t been as expected. He has batted in precarious situations in almost every game and showed supreme technique and temperament to pull India out of troubled waters.
His best came in the Melbourne Test, where he scored a magnificent century to revive India and keep them in the game, but his valiant effort went in vain. However, his superior skillsets were enough to prove his selection correct, especially when his position had been debated so much from the first game.
Former India batter Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on Nitish, talking about how he can solve India’s search for a pace-bowling all-rounder in Test cricket. In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar wrote Nitish is better than Hardik Pandya as a batter in the longest format.
“Ever since the unavailability of Hardik Pandya for Test cricket, India has been looking for an all-rounder who can bowl medium pace and bat as well. Reddy’s bowling is still a work in progress, but as a batter, he is definitely better than Pandya was around the same time.”
Despite batting so low in the batting order, Nitish has left a lasting mark in almost every innings. He is India’s second-leading run-scorer this series, with 294 runs at an average of 49 in seven outings, including a century.
Bowling-wise, there’s still a lot of improvement required, but the team has seen massive potential in him. He provides that balance and more bowling options to the unit, even though his bowling hasn’t been utilised properly by the Indian captain.
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That century in Melbourne was enough to play him as a batter alone, and if he could contribute with the ball and act as a quality fourth seamer, he would have done his job. This tour would have helped him grow significantly and return as an improved cricketer.
India have tried the likes of Shardul Thakur in the past, but those experiments haven’t reaped the desired results. Maybe Nitish Kumar Reddy is the solution for that all-rounder slot in Test cricket and will soon push a case in white-ball format.
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