Nitish Reddy has well and truly arrived at the international stage

Talk to a Sunrisers Hyderabad fan right now, and they’ll tell you the exact definition of ‘bittersweet’. For the whole Nitish Kumar Reddy situation must be inflicting all sorts of conflicting emotions in them.

The happy part is the fact that THEIR BOY, one of their own, is absolutely tearing it up at the highest level. For most SRH fans, Nitish’s success will feel like their own.

The sad part here is that SRH fans around the world have probably just come to the realization that this stupendously talented cricketer might just have played his last game for the franchise. At least for a while.

Leading up to this series, for completely justifiable, selfish reasons, SRH fans hoped that Nitish wouldn’t get capped so that they can retain him as an uncapped player. That dream got shattered in the very first game of the series as the 21-year-old got capped instantly. 

Again, strictly from an SRH point of view, things have gone from bad to worse as Nitish has arguably played the sort of a knock that’s guaranteed to make him one of the hottest picks - if not the single-hottest pick - at the mega auction.

Usually, we as fans and viewers are not surprised when IPL superstars shine at the international stage since we’ve already seen them at their devastating best in the ten-team showpiece event. 

But on October 9 (Wednesday), Nitish played the sort of knock that took everyone by surprise.

Nitish had a breakthrough IPL 2024 with the bat in hand, scoring 303 runs, but there he was largely a semi-accumulator that brought more security than fireworks. In IPL 2024, Nitish struck at 142.92 overall and had a SR over 150 in just two of the 11 knocks he played. Let’s say he played ‘within himself’.

So with the score 41/3, with Bangladesh on top, pretty much everyone expected a similar rescue job from the 21-year-old: a very steady knock with flashes of brilliance. 

And for a while, that’s precisely what we got from the right-hander, who was 13 off 13 balls, trying to build a partnership with Rinku Singh. 

It’s what Nitish did after this point that pretty much shocked everyone, including even the most ardent of Sunrisers fans.

The 21-year-old hammered a whopping 61 off his next 21 balls, unleashing a never-seen-before avatar of himself. 

It all began with an ill-fated no-ball bowled by Mahmudullah on the fourth ball of the ninth over. 

At 66/3 in 8.3 overs, Bangladesh had control of the contest. But then Mahmudullah’s no-ball gave Reddy the chance to break the shackles. And the youngster took the opportunity with both hands, dispatching the off-spinner over wide long-on for a huge six.

Little did Bangladesh know that was a trailer for what was about to come.

In a truly astonishing assault, Nitish went 0 4 6 6 6 1 1 0 6 1 1 0 4 1 6 4 6 6 to absolutely brutalise the Tigers’ attack. 

The 21-year-old hit seven mammoth sixes, with six of them coming against spin. On the night, he absolutely pummeled the Bangladesh spinners, against whom he struck 53 off 19 balls, going at nearly 280.

And the remarkable thing (or absurd, depending on the way you want to look at it) was how he kept targeting the same area because, well, the Bangladesh spinners were feeding him the same delivery over and over again. A whopping 64% of Nitish’s runs against spin on the night came between long-on and mid-wicket. 

Having raced to 74 in the 14th over, a hundred was there for the taking for Nitish. He was also three away from equaling Rohit Sharma’s record for the most sixes by an Indian in a T20I innings.

But one of the reasons Nitish finds himself in the XI in the first place is because he is the ultimate team man. And so staying true to his reputation, the 21-year-old did not slow down in pursuit of a ton and went for another maximum. And that ultimately cost him his wicket.

What we can be sure about is that, if Nitish continues to play like this, a century is just around the corner. He’ll get plenty of opportunities to tick that milestone off.

India just can’t seem to stop unearthing superstars in this format. Nitish Reddy has well and truly arrived on the international stage. 

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