When Nitish Kumar Reddy dismissed Shivam Dube in his first over during IND A vs IND B 2024 Duleep Trophy match [Watch]

Team India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy proved to be the difference-maker for his side with the ball in the first session of Day 1 of the third Test against England at Lord's. He dismissed both opening batters, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, in the very first over of his spell to reduce the opposition to 44-2.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, retained in the playing XI, was a surprise bowling change after being brought into the attack in the 14th over. In the previous Test, he had bowled only a total of six overs, and was not introduced into the attack in the second innings at Edgbaston.

However, this time, availing the chance to bowl with the new ball, Reddy made it count with a double strike, including a peach of a delivery to get rid of Crawley. He got the ball to swing and nip around, with his gentle pace proving to be a handful for the hosts.

But this is not the first time that Reddy has struck right after coming into the attack. During the 2024 Duleep Trophy, playing against the Shubman Gill-led India 'A' side, the all-rounder dismissed Shivam Dube in his first over after being handed the ball by the skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran in the 23rd over.

The opposition were in trouble, reduced to 76-5 while attempting to chase 275 in the fourth innings, when Reddy came into the attack. He began his spell with a short and wide delivery, which was dispatched for a four. In the fourth ball of the over, the right-arm medium pacer bowled a stray delivery on the leg stump line, which the left-handed batter tried to nudge it towards the on side.

However, his attempt caught the leading edge, and the ball lobbed towards short cover instead, where Musheer Khan took a stunning catch. Have a look at the first-over strike right here:

The all-rounder ended up bowling a couple of more overs to end with figures of 1-8 off three overs. Dube's wicket reduced the score to 99-6, and they were eventually bowled out for 198 in the run chase.

Nitish Kumar Reddy has figures of 2-15 after five overs in ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

This marked the first instance where Nitish Kumar Reddy clinched more than one wicket in Test cricket. He had picked a total of three wickets in the entire 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series in Australia.

His bowling potential is evident through his first-class record, where he has picked up three five-wicket hauls in 31 matches, with a decent average of 29.83.

The all-rounder is expected to come into play in the second session as well, after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have put considerable pressure on Ollie Pope and Joe Root in their first spell after the Lunch Break. At the time of writing, England are placed at 91-2 after 33 overs.