Nitish Kumar Reddy struck a century against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (PTI)
Melbourne: The Gautam Gambhir-Rohit Sharma combine has made some contentious selection choices on this tour, none more so than the decision to pack their side with batting allrounders lower down the order instead of providing an extra specialist pacer to support Jasprit Bumrah.
The move may appear to have been justified as Nitish Kumar Reddy brought India back into the fourth Test with bat in hand in Washington Sundar’s company, but there are now new questions the
team management has to face.
Nitish Kumar Reddy’s family reacts to his maiden Test century at MCG
Washington’s role as an offspinning allrounder is already settled but Reddy has shown he is not the sort of hit-and-miss, flashy batter a No.8 is expected to be. He started his career as an opener and it now seems a travesty he was picked as a bowling allrounder in Perth.
No wonder, India have barely used him as a medium-pace option. His spells read 3-0-4-0 and 4-0-21-1 in Perth, 6-2-25-1 and 1-0-8-0 (with the match already out of India’s reach) in Adelaide, 13-1-65-1 in Brisbane and 7-0-21-0 here in Melbourne. His lack of pace ensures he can’t be the viable fast-bowling replacement the team needs to address Bumrah’s workload issues.
Instead, by getting an opportunity to display his sound technique, solid defensive game and ability to deliver under pressure, Reddy has proved he should be played as a pure batter. That he would eventually do so was always on the cards given the way he has batted throughout the series. However, he may have taken everyone by surprise by doing it in such a monumental manner — scoring a Test century away from home, against one of the best attacks, with the team staring at an early defeat.
Washington Sundar: ‘Nitish Reddy is fire, not flower; he killed it today’
The management will find it hard not to make him a regular feature of the Test XI from now on. The question now is, should Reddy be considered for a push up the order at No. 5 or even No. 6 for the next Test in Sydney?
“An unbelievable hundred. This hundred will be talked about and remembered for a very, very long time. Boxing Day century, he’ll remember it forever,” Washington said of Reddy on Saturday. “He’s mentally very, very strong. I’ve known him for quite a few years. The way he went about his business today was amazing. He made sure he picked those phases in the game where he thought he could get
a few boundaries. He was also aware of the times we needed to just see off a few balls when the situation got challenging. Whatever he does, he’s very thorough,” Washington said.
For someone with a sketchy first-class record (batting average of 23.36 from 26 first-class games, and a solitary hundred), someone who was first picked based on IPL performance, Reddy has certainly justified the selectors’ call by revealing some hidden layers to his game.
“One thing about Nitish is no matter what he’s doing, on the field or off the field, he’s going to give his 120%. That’s his approach to life, not just cricket. I saw him quite closely during the IPL, his work ethic. The things that he would do before every game was something very, very pleasing for all of us to
watch and we knew something very special was around the corner,” Washington said.
Reddy, clearly, is the find of this tour. How can Rohit and Gambhir best harness his batting prowess to improve India’s chances in this series, and free up space for an extra pacer to support Bumrah in the bargain?
