NEWS
Follow UsNitish Kumar Reddy, making his Test debut against Australia on probably the fastest and most dangerous wicket for a batter- Optus Stadium in Perth, was the highest scorer, not only for the Indian side but both the teams combined on Day 1 of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
His 41 off 59 balls were the most crucial for the visitors, who were bowled out for 150. But more than the runs, it was his ability to tackle the situation while wickets fell at the other end, that made the youngster a lynchpin in the Indian innings.
Reddy credited head coach Gautam Gambhir for his fearless attitude where he reverse-swept Nathan Lyon and didn’t bog down to the testing bouncers from the pace quartet of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh.
“After the last practice before this game, I spoke to Gautam Sir and he mentioned that when you get bouncers and sharp spells, just take the balls on the shoulders as if you are taking a bullet for your country. That boosted me a lot,” the 25-year-old said in the end-of-the-day press conference on November 22 (Friday).
On getting the Test cap from idol Virat Kohli, Reedy said, “To receive the cap from Virat Bhai, who has been my idol since I started playing cricket, was a great feeling. To get runs along the way, I just want to continue in this way.”
Reddy, who was part of the India A team that toured Australia ahead of this series, stressed the importance of the tour saying, “To be honest, it helped me a lot. It was my first time in Australia and compared to Indian wickets, there is a lot of difference playing in these wickets concerning bounce and everything.”
Talking about India’s bowling plan after getting out for 150 in the first innings, the Andhra Pradesh all-rounder said that the idea was to keep the bowl in the right areas and let it do the work instead of trying too hard to get swing, seam, and everything going all at once and end up giving away runs.
The plan did work as India managed to get the Aussies seven down for 67 at the end of the first day’s play and they are currently leading by 83.
On his way to 41, Reddy attacked the lone spinner, Lyon. He explained the reasoning behind it: "It is a pretty good wicket for fast bowlers and getting runs against them is hard. When Lyon was bowling, I saw the first three balls without drift. So I decided to take him on and get some quick runs.”
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