LONDON: It was all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who gave India two breakthroughs on Day One of the third Test here at the Lord's Cricket Ground on Thursday. Reddy sent back both the openers in the same over to give India the much-needed success they were struggling for in the first hour of the play.
Despite that century during his maiden tour of Australia only a few months ago, Reddy, the bowler, was under pressure to deliver. With only five wickets from six matches before the ongoing contest, critics have started questioning his place in the team as an all-rounder.
The twin wickets must have not made 22-year-old Reddy confident but also silenced his critics at least for the time being.
Enquired about it on Thursday after the day's play, Reddy revealed how a chat with Pat Cummins, his captain at the Sunrisers Hyderabad helped him. "...Pat has been brilliant in Australia and I have asked him for some tips. He has been telling me how things should be done in Australia and how I can go about in Australia. And that's a great experience for me. And yeah, coming to this tour also I would say like we are working with Morne Morkel, the bowling coach, and he has been great and he is working with me since the last couple of weeks and we are seeing good progression in my bowling and I am really enjoying working with him," Reddy told reporters.
The Australian captain also gave tips to the India medium-pacer about the English conditions ahead of the tour. "I just asked him what's the difference between Australia and England since this is my first tour and he said that it's not going to be like a big change but you keep a watch on the weather conditions and just play your game. He told me that I will get to know because obviously I am going to play two India A tour games ahead of the series. So he said just try to learn as much as you can and you will get there."
Reddy was given some specific targets by Morkel ahead of the tour and the all-rounder said it was all about having self-belief and striving for consistency. "We have been working on my consistency a lot. Since I swing both ways, I just want to be consistent in all areas. So we are working on that and I have been working hard on my bowling since the last one or two years. I have been doing a lot of hard work but later on I understood that I have to have to believe in myself. Because if you believe that is when your hard work pays off. So that is what I am realising now."
Reddy suffered a back injury and was advised to make gradual progress during the IPL. Like all players, he said it was tough to get back to his rhythm due to the injury but eventually he managed by gradually increasing his workload. "To be honest, after the injury it has been a bit tough for me to get my rhythm back. Obviously I got a side strain and it has been hurting me a bit after the injury as well. So towards the end of the IPL season I started bowling gradually."
Reddy was happy with his show on the opening day and said it was all because of self-belief. It was from the Nursery End where he proved effective and Reddy accepted the ball was moving a lot from that end. He, however, did not know much of the famed Lord’s slope. "I don't know about the slope that much but from that end when I bowled it has been moving a lot and after pitching also it is going good. And I feel great while bowling from that end. I bowled from this end as well but it is just one over so I can't decide much about that."
He was happy with the India bowlers' show and said they would like to wrap up England innings as soon as possible on Day 2. "Obviously, we were expecting a bit more wickets but we are happy with the way we bowled today. Whoever got the ball, they just did brilliantly and we just want to keep that discipline in bowling tomorrow as well and just get the six wickets as quickly as possible."