Nitish Kumar Reddy has been the discover of the Australian tour for India, and the batting all-rounder established that as a truth together with his maiden worldwide century within the Melbourne Take a look at when India had been virtually down and out for the rely.
Trying on the 21-year-old Reddy’s constant present with the bat all through the sequence, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar reckons he’s higher in batting in comparison with his closest rival all-rounder within the nation, Hardik Pandya.
Reddy’s 127-run stand for the eighth wicket with Washington Sundar in India’s first innings saved the guests alive within the match. It helped India attain 369 in response to Australia’s 474.
Sundar contributed 50 and Reddy scored a well-deserved 114.
Writing in a column for Sportstar, Gavaskar credited the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI choice committee for recognizing the red-ball expertise in Reddy and blooding him into Take a look at cricket.
“The Melbourne Take a look at delivered to the fore one of many brightest younger stars in Indian cricket, Nitish Kumar Reddy. He got here to the eye of the Indian cricket followers together with his performances for the (Sunrisers) Hyderabad franchise within the IPL, and whereas he had not performed a lot on the first-class degree, it’s a credit score to Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors to have seen sufficient to pitchfork him into the Take a look at area,” the batting legend wrote.
Gavaskar is especially impressed with Reddy’s cricketing mind and skill to learn the match state of affairs and play accordingly regardless of not having a lot first-class expertise.
He had performed 27 first-class matches for Andhra Pradesh earlier than making his Take a look at debut at Perth on this Border Gavaskar Trophy sequence.
Reddy made his worldwide debut in a T20I in opposition to Bangladesh earlier this 12 months after a very good present within the IPL season earlier than that.
“In his debut Take a look at match in Perth itself, it grew to become evident that this is a cricketer who might learn conditions and play accordingly. With each subsequent Take a look at match, that impression of a very good ‘cricketing head’ on his shoulders started to get stronger and stronger,” Gavaskar talked about within the column.
“And in Melbourne, when India had been wanting down the barrel, he got here by the fireplace with an impressive century that has cemented his place within the staff for a very long time to come back.”
Whereas Gavaskar admitted that Reddy must work on his seam-up bowling extra, he put him forward of Hardik within the batting division.
Within the ongoing BGT, Reddy is India’s second-best scorer after 4 Exams. His 294 runs in seven innings are solely behind Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 359 in eight innings.
“Ever because the unavailability of Hardik Pandya for Take a look at cricket, India has been searching for an all-rounder who can bowl medium tempo and bat as nicely. Reddy’s bowling continues to be a piece in progress, however as a batter, he’s positively higher than Pandya was across the identical time,” Gavaskar added.
