Nitish Reddy's selection in Indian squad has been questioned given his lack of bowling for Men in Blue.
Hanuma Vihari, veteran Indian batter, has slammed a journalist who called young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy a ‘bits and pieces’ cricketer. This came after India lost the second ODI to New Zealand in Rajkot on January 14 by seven wickets as the BlackCaps leveled the three-ODI series 1-1.
Despite playing just 17 games for India, Nitish Kumar Reddy's career can be split in half. The first is his Border-Gavaskar Trophy debut series, while the second is after it.
One of India's rare successes on the tour was Nitish's performance in Australia. Over the course of the five games, Reddy claimed five wickets and amassed 298 runs, including an unforgettable first century at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Even though he didn't get many fifties, he led India's comeback in the lower order with lots of 30s and 40s.
There was a belief that Reddy would continue his upward climb when he was sidelined with an injury. But that has not happened. Reddy's graph has actually declined as a result of his inability to produce even one standout performance, whether it be with the bat or the ball. Reddy failed in England, scoring just 45 runs and taking three wickets, and he still struggles in white-ball formats.
The Indian team management chose to start Nitish Reddy instead of Ayush Badoni in the second ODI due to Washington Sundar's injury. But in India's defeat, Reddy only bowled two overs and hit just 20 runs.
Journalist Kushan Sarkar quoted a post by journalist Vikrant Gupta, who had expressed surprise at Nitish Reddy being considered an all-rounder for bowling two overs and batting at no.7. The journalist agreed with Vikrant Gupta’s assessment. He even called Reddy the exact definition of a bits and pieces cricketer.
“Cant agree more. Nitish Reddy at best is an idea of an all rounder not the real one. He is an exact definition of bits and pieces cricketer,” the X user, Kushan Sarkar posted.
However, Hanuma Vihari was extremely offended by the journalist's assessment of the young Andhra player. He slammed him for calling a 22-year-old player a ‘bits and pieces player’ and counted all the overs Reddy has bowled across formats for India. He also recounted Reddy’s maiden Test ton in Melbourne.
“Can you tell me anyone else in the country who is at the level of Nitish who can bat and bowl seam? And he’s 22. You call a 22-year-old ‘bits and pieces’ cricketer? Write him off just like that? The overs bowled by him in different formats: 3 ODI matches - 7 overs. 4 T20 matches - 9 overs 3 wickets at 7.88 economy-rate (45 average with the bat) 10 Test matches - 86 overs 8 wickets (60 strike-rate), which isn’t bad for a 4th seamer. He got a 100 in Melbourne, which many can only dream of, like you and me,” Vihari stated while quoting the post.
The reporter continued to defend his assessment and questioned why Reddy is not being bowled more and whether his batting after the MCG ton has been effective.
“The data that you gave in itself proves a point. Why isnt he being bowled more. And post MCG has his batting across formats been really effective,” the journalist asked Vihari.