India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy justified his retention in the XI with a double-strike in the third Test match against England at Lord's on Thursday, July 10. Reddy opened the account for the visitors, dismissing both English openers in his first over.
The first session of the game saw England start their innings patiently. Openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett successfully negotiated the opening spells of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj.
However, skipper Shubman Gill introduced Reddy into the attack in the 14th over. The second ball of the over was a fullish delivery, which saw Duckett get a boundary. The right-arm pacer bowled a short delivery, drifting down the leg side, but Ben Duckett (23) only managed a faint edge and was caught by Rishabh Pant.
The final ball of the over was a peach, as Reddy extracted some seam movement off the surface and induced an edge of Crawley (18), which Pant again caught. The dismissals reduced England to 44/2 after 14 overs.
Fans were impressed by Reddy's exploits and compared him to Shardul Thakur, who also has the knack of picking up wickets at crucial junctures. One of them wrote:
"Delivery down the leg for a wicket.✅ Two wickets in an over when none picked any.✅ Nitish Reddy's application for Lord 2.0 title is under review."
Here are some other reactions:
"The one thing I can credit Gautam Gambhir is for the fast-tracking and backing of Nitish Kumar Reddy. Hope he’s consistent," one fan posted.
"Nitish Kumar Reddy, that was some over. He is showing why Gambhir & Gill are showing faith on him," another wrote.
"Nitish Kumar Reddy is proving that why is he is considered as an ideal replacement of Hardik Pandya in the longest form of the game," a fan tweeted.
Nitish Kumar Reddy holds an impressive FC bowling record
Often counted as a batting all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy has done well with the ball in first-class cricket. Since making his debut in 2020, he has scalped 63 wickets in 31 games for Andhra at an average of 29.23, with two fifers.
Reddy's best match figures of 8/119 were recorded during the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 game against Maharashtra. He bagged 25 wickets in eight games in that season.
Despite the sun shining down hard at Lord's and other bowlers proving to be ineffective, Nitish Kumar Reddy's quick wickets highlight his pace bowling talent.
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