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Nitish Reddy Reveals How Virat Kohli Motivated Him To Play For India

Aashay Chopade

Nitish Kumar Reddy with Virat Kohli (Source:@weRcricket/X.com)Nitish Kumar Reddy with Virat Kohli (Source:@weRcricket/X.com)

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Nitish Reddy is one of the brightest young talents in India and brings a skill-set to the table that is very rare in India. His strength is his batting, but is a handy pacer as well which has helped him get fast-tracked into the India team and now he has been selected in the Indian Test squad for the all-important Australian tour.

He is also part of the India A squad and will feature in the two unofficial Tests against Australia A. So, ahead of the big tour, Nitish Reddy touched upon different aspects of his game, his future plans and his personal life. He also revealed what has motivated him over the years and mentioned that Virat Kohli played a big part in developing his passion for cricket.

Nitish Reddy Opens Up On His Childhood Love For Virat Kohli

He stated that when he was just 13-14 years old he used to calculate his age to see whether he would be able to play with Kohli or not before his retirement and with selection in BGT, he is now closer to his dream. The all-rounder also added that he used to watch IPL only because of Virat Kohli and he has been his biggest motivation.

“When I was 13-14 years old, I used to calculate my age and see when I could realistically play alongside Virat [Kohli] bhai. I always checked if I could play with him before he retired. I’m now closer to my dream of playing alongside him. I used to watch the IPL because of Virat. He’s been my biggest motivation for me as a cricketer; I used to watch him since childhood."

Reddy also recalled an incident when he met Virat Kohli for the first time and was quite nervous. He stated that he could not talk much and just told Virat Kohli that he is a big fan.

“I just wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t have any questions to ask, and I felt awkward just going and talking to him. That’s when I took my bat and used that as an excuse to talk to him. I got his autograph on it, and I said I’m a huge fan of you, and he said, ‘Oh really? That’s nice."

Nitish Reddy is now touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket and is likely to be a regular in all formats. The Australia series is a golden opportunity for him to lift his stature in world cricket and it would be interesting to see how he goes about his business on the fast and bouncy pitches Down Under.