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Nitish Kumar Reddy scored 74 off 34. (AP Photo)
In just the second T20I of his career, Nitish Kumar won player-of-the-match award for an all-round performance in India’s big win.
Nitish Kumar Reddy is chuffed to bits at having played a starring role in India’s dominant show in Delhi that saw them crush Bangladesh by 86 runs in the second T20I of a three-match series on Wednesday night. Nitish produced a belligerent show with the bat, hitting 74 off 34 after walking in to bat when his team was in a tricky spot having lost their top three batters for not much.
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From 41/3, Nitish combined with Rinku Singh for a century stand to lift India to 149/4 in 13.2 overs before being dismissed. He would later pick two wickets with his right-arm medium pace bowling and won player-of-the-match award as well to cap off a memorable night.
The 21-year-old, who came into limelight during IPL 2024, credited India head coach Gautam Gambhir for boosting his confidence.
“To be honest, I should thank Gautam sir for this. He gave me a lot of confidence and told me to believe in my bowling,” Reddy told BCCI. “(He said) ‘when you are bowling, you should think like a bowler and not as a batsman who can bowl’. That is what he kept telling me and that somehow boosted me.”
“Playing for India is in itself a proud moment and getting the man of the match (award), I feel so grateful for this and I just want to live in this moment,” he added
Reddy struck four fours and seven sixes during his entertaining innings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Together with Rinku, who scored 53 off 29, he added 108 runs for the fourth wicket.
“We were having a smooth conversation, not taking any pressure. We did not plan anything about the score. We saw the spinner coming on to bowl, and we thought that this was the main over and we should take him on,” Reddy said of his partnership with Rinku.
“He (Rinku) was telling me that maybe it is God’s plan. We were just believing (in) it and we were just hitting the balls,” Reddy added.
