Nitish Kumar Reddy is an all-rounder from Andhra Pradesh who also plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Recently, he spoke about the emotional moment he had last month when he got the jersey of Indian side. And how much it meant to him as his father’s career was seriously affected when he decided to support his son in cricket.
He had a great 2024 season with SRH in the Indian Premier League where after scoring a total of 303 runs at a strike rate of 143 with two fifties in 11 innings and taking three wickets through seam bowling. Even though there was a sports hernia injury that prevented him from playing according to ANI.
At only 21 years old, he is still working towards full fitness ahead of the new domestic season. Which begins on September 5th with the Duleep Trophy.
Reddy stated that his India kit reduced people who used to laugh at his father for having compromised their lives so that Nitish could become players into tears. In my thirteenth year, my father Mutyalu, who worked for Hindustan Zinc Limited in Visakhapatnam, was slated to move out on transfer to Jodhpur. However, he resigned from the job so as to spend more time with me. Since I had been selected for district trials by ACA (Andhra Cricket Association). He tried establishing his own company but it failed miserably. And this including ridicule coming from everywhere else including our relatives.
“Fame is very weird. After IPL some people who told my dad that he was mad to leave everything behind just because of me changed their mind,” said Nitish. While talking about how emotional they were when they received Indian uniforms as ESPNCricinfo reported.
“He left and invested that corpus into a microfinance business in Vizag [Visakhapatnam]. But unfortunately when it did not work out, our own extended family, society – everyone else started making fun of him as if they had anticipated this. As much as he tried not to let that filter through to me, eventually he could not help it.”
“I noticed how people treated him differently from when he was employed to after resigning from work. They would be unkind towards him and even disregard him.”
“It totally pissed me off. That’s what made me decide that because my dad gave up on everything for me, I needed to give all I had got. Until then I played for the sake of playing but it started here.” Nitish ended his argument.
It meant leaving home at 13 years old for an ACA residential school where I trained. And attended middle school 700 kilometers away from my native land. Fast bowling basics were taught by local experts there. When he joined the camp, Nitish recalled that his “throw” was bad and he bowled terribly.
“Only when I began regular training did I start understanding biomechanics. And how your action affects various parts of your body and worked on fixing it,” noted Nitish.
He caught the eye during the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy when he finished with 1,237 runs in the 2017-18 competition, striking a triple ton against Tamil Nadu, 190 in a difficult game against Karnataka’s potent attack, and a quadruple century against Nagaland.
However, on reflection he recognized early achievements as an illusion. These U-19s turned out to be a bit of a disaster after I had ‘became big-headed.’
“I thought I was simply talented. My technique was praised by everyone and it seemed like I would fly with it. So in the year that followed when I moved up from U-16 to U-19 and failed, initially I ignored. And took it as a bad patch; however, my second poor season made me realize who exactly, I am,” Nitish said.
Then for 2019, Nitish resolved to bat only as his performances were not impressive enough. But one of his coaches Srinivas Reddy urged him to continue bowling since pace bowling all-rounders in India are rare.
An ACA camp was then organized to pick the team for the domestic season 2019-20. Where Reddy got selected alongside other players Nitesh was also chosen as a stand-in for the first squad before being preferred in the Ranji side by Captain Hanuma Vihar.
“I immediately realized that if at age group level you get two half-volleys an over, in First-Class cricket you will get two an innings. It taught me so much so fast.”
Reddy had been recruited prior to IPL 2023 by SRH where he featured in just two games without getting a chance to bat. He was called up into India Emerging Players’ team which played in Asia Cup Sri Lanka last year July but received no opportunity there too.
His batting is not better than his bowling Nitish asserted before IPL 2023 Indian Premier League began. “The management asked me to be ready for game time but unfortunately they left me out of their plans.”
“At Asia Cup too our top order did so well. While I could not get a look-in in the first three games when I was picked. But everybody batted when I sat out of the fourth game. It was live on TV and I was quite stressed by that missing of a chance. I began wondering if Sunrisers would even keep me,” he added.
His ankle injury in that year cost Nitish as he failed to participate in one of the most significant tournaments- Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy which could have determined his IPL fortune next year. Even after making full recovery, everything hurt so much for the all-rounder that he did not even go to the ground.
Yet one day, to prove that he is a top order batsman, Nitish telephoned ACA. And arranged a practice net session with fast bowlers. With 2024 happening and IPL starting, Nitish had firmed up against pace, something that impressed Australia’s star Pat Cummins and SRH captain.
Then one day I called ACA and requested them to arrange for me a few side-armers. Who would chuck the ball at me 18 yards away, sending it my way at 140 clicks. I didn’t want someone saying that I am only a tail-ender. I had my eyes on playing in the top order.
“Bouncers came my way. They hit me all over initially but even then I said to myself come what may. I will stand up and fight just build character and develop that no-die attitude. Whenever I was training back home, this is exactly what I kept doing. That’s why IPL 2024 found me so confident of handling some genuine pace bowling. And during the nets when Pat Cummins saw how quickly I reacted, he was very impressed” he told me.
