Nitish Kumar Reddy with Gautam Gambhir: Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made his Test debut for India, admitted that he was ‘nervous’ before batting on the Perth pitch which favors fast bowlers but the advice of head coach Gautam Gambhir boosted his morale. Nitish told that Gambhir had told him to face bouncer balls as if ‘you are taking a bullet for the country.’
Nitish played a brave inning of 41 runs in 59 balls and helped the team score reach 150 runs at the Optus Stadium here. He presented an important partnership of 48 runs with Rishabh Pant (27). He told reporters after the match, “I have heard a lot about the Perth wicket (pitch). There was a bit of nervousness in my mind before batting. I had this thing in my mind that everyone is talking about the bounce on the Perth wicket. However, I remembered the conversation I had with Gautam sir after our last practice session.”
The young all-rounder said, “He was saying, ‘You have to face the bouncer as if you are taking a bullet for the country’. This boosted my morale from the coach. When he said this, I felt that I need to take a bullet for the country, this is the best thing I have heard from Gautam sir.”
“Like taking a bullet for your country”
🗣️ Nitish Kumar Reddy reveals coach Gambhir’s words that helped him face the fire in Perth #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/THwnG9a91C
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 22, 2024
This 21-year-old player told that he was informed about his debut on the eve of the opening Test match. Nitish said, “We (he and fast bowler Harshit Rana) came to know about our debut a day before and we were excited. We were calm and were following the same routine as we were doing last week. Were.” He said, “We did not want to take too much pressure. We also cycled yesterday evening, so it was good.”
Nitish was extremely surprised when star batsman and his idol Virat Kohli handed him the ‘Test Cap’ in the morning. He said, “It was a great feeling (getting the cap from Kohli). I have always dreamed of playing for India and it was a great moment. Virat bhai is my idol when I started playing cricket. So getting the debut cap from him.” It was a happy moment for me.”
Nitish admitted that playing for India A in Melbourne recently helped him understand the Australian conditions. He said, “It was a good start, not a dream innings but a good start. To be honest, the India A series helped me a lot because it was my first experience of playing in Australia.”
He said, “The pitch here is quite different compared to India. The ball gets a lot of bounce here. I felt there was more support for the bowlers here (compared to MCG).”
When asked about adopting an aggressive approach against off-spinner Nathan Lyon, he said, “I felt that the pitch was helping the fast bowlers, so I had to find opportunities to score runs. When Lyon came to bat, I took two- After testing three balls, I realized that he was not getting any help from the pitch, so I decided to score runs against him.”
Also read: IND vs AUS: “How can you beat…” Brian Lara became a fan of Jasprit Bumrah’s havoc bowling.
