Christchurch: There is a reason why Nitish K Reddy is being looked at as Hardik Pandya's back up in both white-ball formats. The seam-bowling all-rounder has a high ceiling and his bowling is still a work in progress. But as seen on Saturday, he can step up with the bat. The all-rounder smashed an unbeaten 26 off 13 balls to help Tilak Varma (51 n.o) take India over the line in the second T20I against New Zealand in Christchurch.
Nitish has had frequent injuries in the past, especially with regards to his bowling. But since he came back, the selectors are keen to use him across formats, including Tests. He is part of the New Zealand tour Test squad as well. However, the last thing they would want is for him to be injured. There is no doubt India are keen to wrap him in cotton and protect him till the 2027 World Cup.
India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is keen to stay injury-free and is constantly working on managing the workload that comes with shouldering dual responsibilities with the bat and ball. The lower middle order batter scored an unbeaten 26 off 13 balls that helped India overhaul New Zealand total in the final over. He also took a wicket and added 69 runs for the seventh wicket with Tilak Varma.
The all-rounder acknowledged that managing his workload was an ongoing process, with the demands extending beyond match days to training sessions. "As I am getting to understand, you guys have to also understand that I am an all-rounder. I have to do both batting and bowling, even in practice, I have to do my workloads. The amount of work I have to do on the field and off the field," Reddy said at post match press conference.
Reddy finds it a blessing to play consistently. "It is just something which I am working on and nobody likes to get injured. I am happy that I am playing for the Indian team. It is about each and every day. The next day, if I turn up and play for my team, that would be a great sign for me, no matter where I play. But I hope I don't get injured, but I am still in the process."
Reddy said the belief instilled by head coach Gautam Gambhir helped the players remain composed when India were under pressure during the chase. "There was no message actually, but Gautam sir kept telling us that no matter what situation we are in, we have to keep believing in ourselves. So we just did that and that's what actually happened. "He didn't give us any extra pressure to straight away go in and bang, bang, bang. We just played to ourselves and I think we are pretty much experienced players as well," he said.
Reddy said the key was to remain calm at the crease, assess the bowlers' plans and wait for the right opportunity to turn the game around. "You have to have an eye on everything, where if the bowler has already bowled a bouncer, he might go for your yorkers or something like that. It is just tactical things. We have to keep working on it. "If you keep calm, if you just work on your batting, if you just keep staying at the crease, the right moment can come at any moment and then the game just changes and you will be on the upper hand. "And that's what exactly happened today. It doesn't happen every time, but you have to keep believing," he said.
The 23-year-old credited New Zealand's bowlers for putting India under pressure during the powerplay and middle overs before the momentum shifted. "I would give credit to Matt Henry. He was bowling pretty good and the other bowlers, Jacob Duffy as well. They had a pretty good powerplay. They kept pressure on us and in the middle overs as well. "The way Santner was bowling and the other guys were bowling, they really bowled well," he said. Reddy said the partnership with Tilak was built on running hard between the wickets and making the most of the opportunities that came their way.
"As I just mentioned, it is just about one good over and the game just changes and you can see they are getting under pressure. That's the moment we caught on. Then me and Tilak were just running between wickets. I would say that was awesome. I was feeling so fantastic about it. That's where we won the game," he signed off. (PTI INPUTS)