Nitish Kumar Reddy has shown that he is a big-match player, looking assured during his debut Test series, but his selection has also opened up a Pandora’s box for India, writes Sarah Waris.
It haunted India again at the MCG on day two; the horrors of “45 minutes of bad play”. Coined by Virat Kohli after the heartbreaking 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final defeat, the phrase has since become a recurring refrain, often resurfacing to describe India's collapses in pivotal moments.
It was all chaos – poor running, harakiri, and the familiar story of India squandering a hard-earned advantage. By the end of the day, they had stumbled to 164 for 5, still trailing by 110 runs to avoid the follow-on.
On Saturday, the first goal was simple: to get Australia to bat again and then hope to put in a better performance in the second essay. It would be their best chance to draw the game and while it would not be enough to make the World Test Championship final, at least India could still look for their fifth straight series win against Australia, with a game more to follow at Sydney.
It did not go as per plan, with Rishabh Pant falling off a “stupid” shot and Ravindra Jadeja departing soon after, bringing a batter who could bowl and a bowler who could bat to the crease.
While Washington Sundar’s batting credentials are well known, Nitish Kumar Reddy was more of a “vibes” pick heading into the series. He averaged 21.05 with the bat in 23 first-class games and 27 with the ball before his selection, but with Shardul Thakur no longer in the fray, India needed a seam all-rounder and Reddy was their best choice, slotting in at No.8 and bowling at around 130 clicks.
He impressed right away, scoring 41, 38 not out, 42, 42 and 16 (top-scoring three times in the process), culminating with his maiden Test ton at the MCG. He has not been afraid to play his shots or grind it out, adapting to either situation with both ease and elan. According to Cricviz, Reddy has the lowest false shot percentage (15 per cent) in the series among all batters, with Mark Nicholas even defining his cover drive better than Kohli’s. For a 21-year-old, who had once sneakily taken a selfie with Kohli, his idol, that is as big a compliment as it can get.
Despite his batting returns, there was considerable debate over Reddy’s spot in the XI for the MCG Test. It had nothing to do with him per se but about how his presence affected the team balance. Before the fourth Australia Test, Reddy had bowled just 27 overs in three games, or just over five overs per innings.
