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Why India Should Keep Nitish Kumar Reddy In Playing XI For Boxing Day Test Vs Australia?

Nitish Kumar in action vs Australia [Source: @ABsay_ek/x]Nitish Kumar in action vs Australia [Source: @ABsay_ek/x]

Nitish Kumar Reddy enjoyed a dream Test debut for India, considering the occasion also coincided with India’s biggest-ever Test win on Australian soil. Making his mark at the Optus Stadium in Perth on November 22 for the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 match, the dazzling young all-rounder pounded scores of 41 and 38* across both innings, and took the key wicket of Mitchell Marsh in the decisive innings of the match.

With his penchant for scoring quick runs and making crucial breakthroughs, Nitish Kumar Reddy has proven to be India’s trump card against Australia in the ongoing hard-fought series. As Team India braces itself for the next chapter of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26, here we examine three specific reasons as to why the Indian team management should continue to persist with the all-rounder in the playing XI.

3 Reasons Why India Should Keep Nitish Kumar Reddy In Playing XI

3. Rishabh Pant 2.0 in the making

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s fearless approach against the swinging ball has fetched him some quick and handy runs throughout the series. His batting style, quite reminiscent to that of Rishabh Pant’s dynamisms, helped India enforce an aggressive result in Perth in the series-opening Test. Making his debut in the game, the cricketer scored 38* from just 27 balls in the second Indian innings, and top-scored in the first when the visitors folded up for just 150 on Day 1.

Moreover, the youngster also top-scored for India in each innings of their Adelaide drubbing by 10 wickets.

2. Partnership-breaker with the ball

With the ball, Nitish Kumar Reddy has collectively bowled just 27 overs across his three Test appearances of the tour. However, the 21-year-old has also bagged a wicket in each of the Test, with two of them being that of Australia’s middle-order batting stalwart Marnus Labuschagne. With an appetite for breaking partnerships and taking big wickets, Nitish has proven to be an effective commodity as an additional pace option for Team India.

1. The need to nurture his all-round potential

Team India has been longing for a quality fast-bowling all-rounder in Tests. While the Indian team did cultivate one in the form of Hardik Pandya, the Baroda-based cricketer had his red-ball career halted after just 11 Tests to prioritize ODIs and T20Is for his country.

With the sudden emergence of Nitish Kumar Reddy and his meteoric potential in both aspects of the game, the Indian team management needs to nurture his potential by giving him more opportunities in the playing XI, at least for the time being. Moreover, Reddy’s recent form in the series so far will also put him in good stead for the remaining two matches.