NEW DELHI: All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) talked candidly about the emotional moment he experienced last month upon receiving his Indian jersey and how much it meant to him because his father put his own career at jeopardy to support his son’s cricket career.
Following a strong Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season with SRH, Nitish was called up to the Indian side for the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.With a performance worthy of the ‘Emerging Player of the Season’ award, he scored 303 runs in 11 innings with two fifties at a strike rate of 143 and took three wickets with his seam bowling, even though he was unable to play due to a sports hernia injury, as per ANI.
As the new domestic season begins on September 5 with the Duleep Trophy, the 21-year-old is still working his way back to full fitness.
Reddy remembered how the people who frequently made fun of and questioned his father for jeopardizing his career to support his son in becoming a player became quite emotional when he received his Indian uniform. When Nitish was thirteen years old in 2016, his father Mutyalu-who was employed by Hindustan Zinc Limited in Visakhapatnam-was scheduled to be relocated to Jodhpur. However, he made the decision to resign from his position to devote more time to his son, who had been selected for district trials by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA). Instead, he launched his own company, which was a failure and led to ridicule from all quarters, including his extended family.
“Fame is a funny thing. After the IPL, the same people who told my father how he was foolish to risk his career for me started praising him for his foresight. I remembered they got emotional when my India kit arrived,” said Nitish, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“He quit and invested the corpus he received into a microfinance business in Vizag [Visakhapatnam]. But unfortunately, when the business did not do well, our own extended family, society – everyone else started taunting him for his decision. As much as he tried not to let that filter through to me, eventually he could not help it.”
“I saw how people’s attitudes towards him changed from when he had a job to after he quit. They would disrespect him, he would be ignored.”
“I could not take it. That spurred my motivation to give it my all, because my father had given up everything for me. Until then, I had played for fun, but from there on, everything changed,” Nitish concluded his point.
The 13-year-old moved 700 kms away from his home to an ACA residential institution where he trained and attended middle school. There, he trained with local experts in the fundamentals of fast bowling. Nitish remembered that he used to “throw” and had terrible bowling when he first joined the program.
“Only after I began regular training, I understood biomechanics, how your action impacts different parts of your body, and I worked on correcting it,” he added.
Nitish began to make an impression at the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy when he finished the 2017-18 competition with 1,237 runs, scoring a triple ton against Tamil Nadu, 190 against a potent Karnataka bowling attack, and a quadruple ton against Nagaland.
However, he later acknowledged that these early triumphs were a mirage, as he failed miserably at the U19 level after being “carried away” by his success.
“I thought I was naturally good. Everyone spoke highly about my technique, and I was flying. The following year, when I graduated to U-19s and flopped, I initially brushed it aside, thinking it was a bad patch. But when I had a second bad season, it gave me a reality check,” he added.
Nitish wanted to play only as a batter in 2019 after becoming frustrated with his lackluster results; however, one of his instructors, Srinivas Reddy, urged him to stick with bowling instead, pointing out how uncommon it is to find pace bowling all-rounders in India.
Nitish was then selected for an ACA camp in order to select a group of players for the domestic 2019-20 season. The all-round player claimed that after being selected as an understudy in the first team, Hanuma Vihari, the captain, was impressed and advocated for his inclusion in the Ranji team. In January 2020, he went on to play his first Ranji match against Kerala.
“I quickly understood that if in the age group I got two loose balls in an over, in first-class, I would get two in a session. I learned a lot quickly.”
Prior to the 2023 IPL, Reddy was selected by the SRH, although he only played in two matches and was not allowed to bat. He was called up to the India Emerging Players side for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in July of last year, but he was not given the opportunity to bat there either.
Nitish claimed his bowling was superior to his batting before the 2023 Indian Premier League. The team administration had asked him to remain prepared for kickoff, but he just could not make the squad, he said.
“At the Asia Cup too, when I was in the XI, our top order did so well that I could not get a chance in the first three games. In the fourth game, when I was left out, everyone batted. It was on live TV, and it stressed me out quite a lot that I missed a chance. I wondered if Sunrisers would even retain me,” he added.
That year, Nitish suffered another blow when he injured his ankle, missing the crucial Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which might have determined his fate for the IPL the following year. Even after returning to full condition, the all-round player recalls feeling so depressed that he did not even go to the ground.
But one day, to prove to everyone that he was a member of the top order when batting, he called ACA and set up a net practise session against fast bowlers. When the year 2024 arrived and the IPL began, Nitish had solidified his game against pace, which pleased Australian sensation Pat Cummins and captain of the SRH.
“Then one day, I just called up ACA and requested them to help arrange a few side-armers who would hurl the ball [to me] at 140 clicks from 18 yards. I did not want anyone to tell me I am a lower-order batter. I wanted to show I have it in me to bat in the top order.”
“They bowled bouncers. I got hit everywhere initially, but I told myself: come what may, I am going to face up and fight, build character and develop that no-defeat attitude. I continued this routine whenever I was training back home. That is perhaps why, coming into IPL 2024, I felt so confident playing at a proper pace. In the nets when Pat Cummins saw me react to pace, he was very impressed,” he added.
Following a strong Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season with SRH, Nitish was called up to the Indian side for the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.With a performance worthy of the ‘Emerging Player of the Season’ award, he scored 303 runs in 11 innings with two fifties at a strike rate of 143 and took three wickets with his seam bowling, even though he was unable to play due to a sports hernia injury, as per ANI.
As the new domestic season begins on September 5 with the Duleep Trophy, the 21-year-old is still working his way back to full fitness.
Reddy remembered how the people who frequently made fun of and questioned his father for jeopardizing his career to support his son in becoming a player became quite emotional when he received his Indian uniform. When Nitish was thirteen years old in 2016, his father Mutyalu-who was employed by Hindustan Zinc Limited in Visakhapatnam-was scheduled to be relocated to Jodhpur. However, he made the decision to resign from his position to devote more time to his son, who had been selected for district trials by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA). Instead, he launched his own company, which was a failure and led to ridicule from all quarters, including his extended family.
“Fame is a funny thing. After the IPL, the same people who told my father how he was foolish to risk his career for me started praising him for his foresight. I remembered they got emotional when my India kit arrived,” said Nitish, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“He quit and invested the corpus he received into a microfinance business in Vizag [Visakhapatnam]. But unfortunately, when the business did not do well, our own extended family, society – everyone else started taunting him for his decision. As much as he tried not to let that filter through to me, eventually he could not help it.”
“I saw how people’s attitudes towards him changed from when he had a job to after he quit. They would disrespect him, he would be ignored.”
“I could not take it. That spurred my motivation to give it my all, because my father had given up everything for me. Until then, I had played for fun, but from there on, everything changed,” Nitish concluded his point.
The 13-year-old moved 700 kms away from his home to an ACA residential institution where he trained and attended middle school. There, he trained with local experts in the fundamentals of fast bowling. Nitish remembered that he used to “throw” and had terrible bowling when he first joined the program.
“Only after I began regular training, I understood biomechanics, how your action impacts different parts of your body, and I worked on correcting it,” he added.
Nitish began to make an impression at the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy when he finished the 2017-18 competition with 1,237 runs, scoring a triple ton against Tamil Nadu, 190 against a potent Karnataka bowling attack, and a quadruple ton against Nagaland.
However, he later acknowledged that these early triumphs were a mirage, as he failed miserably at the U19 level after being “carried away” by his success.
“I thought I was naturally good. Everyone spoke highly about my technique, and I was flying. The following year, when I graduated to U-19s and flopped, I initially brushed it aside, thinking it was a bad patch. But when I had a second bad season, it gave me a reality check,” he added.
Nitish wanted to play only as a batter in 2019 after becoming frustrated with his lackluster results; however, one of his instructors, Srinivas Reddy, urged him to stick with bowling instead, pointing out how uncommon it is to find pace bowling all-rounders in India.
Nitish was then selected for an ACA camp in order to select a group of players for the domestic 2019-20 season. The all-round player claimed that after being selected as an understudy in the first team, Hanuma Vihari, the captain, was impressed and advocated for his inclusion in the Ranji team. In January 2020, he went on to play his first Ranji match against Kerala.
“I quickly understood that if in the age group I got two loose balls in an over, in first-class, I would get two in a session. I learned a lot quickly.”
Prior to the 2023 IPL, Reddy was selected by the SRH, although he only played in two matches and was not allowed to bat. He was called up to the India Emerging Players side for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in July of last year, but he was not given the opportunity to bat there either.
Nitish claimed his bowling was superior to his batting before the 2023 Indian Premier League. The team administration had asked him to remain prepared for kickoff, but he just could not make the squad, he said.
“At the Asia Cup too, when I was in the XI, our top order did so well that I could not get a chance in the first three games. In the fourth game, when I was left out, everyone batted. It was on live TV, and it stressed me out quite a lot that I missed a chance. I wondered if Sunrisers would even retain me,” he added.
That year, Nitish suffered another blow when he injured his ankle, missing the crucial Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which might have determined his fate for the IPL the following year. Even after returning to full condition, the all-round player recalls feeling so depressed that he did not even go to the ground.
But one day, to prove to everyone that he was a member of the top order when batting, he called ACA and set up a net practise session against fast bowlers. When the year 2024 arrived and the IPL began, Nitish had solidified his game against pace, which pleased Australian sensation Pat Cummins and captain of the SRH.
“Then one day, I just called up ACA and requested them to help arrange a few side-armers who would hurl the ball [to me] at 140 clicks from 18 yards. I did not want anyone to tell me I am a lower-order batter. I wanted to show I have it in me to bat in the top order.”
“They bowled bouncers. I got hit everywhere initially, but I told myself: come what may, I am going to face up and fight, build character and develop that no-defeat attitude. I continued this routine whenever I was training back home. That is perhaps why, coming into IPL 2024, I felt so confident playing at a proper pace. In the nets when Pat Cummins saw me react to pace, he was very impressed,” he added.