India’s Nitish Kumar Reddy impressed one and all with his all-round skills in the first Test against Australia at Perth last week.
Playing his debut Test, Nitish returned with scores of 41 and 38* apart from picking a wicket as India won the game by 295 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
On Day 1 of the Perth Test, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar had questioned Nitish’s selection, asking if the youngster is "ready for Test cricket?".
However, it now seems that the 21-year-old has managed to leave a lasting impression on Gavaskar, who feels Nitish Reddy’s first innings knock was the most impressive of the first Test, even better than Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli's centuries in the second dig.
"These two hundreds were terrific, as was the 200-plus opening partnership, but the most impressive innings was from Nitish Reddy. He showed an awareness of what was required which belied the fact that he was making his Test debut," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
"Even in the first innings, he displayed a refreshing grasp of scoring opportunities and ended up as the top scorer. His bowling too came in handy, and his fielding was outstanding. Here is a man for the future," he added.
While performing commentary duties on Day 1 of the Perth Test, Gavaskar had slammed India’s decision to leave out R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. He also lambasted the team management for picking Nitish Reddy.
"Really surprised with Ashwin and Jadeja not playing, they have got 900 wickets between them in Test matches. They are not bowlers who can just play in Indian or sub-continent conditions. They are very clever bowlers, they are very experienced bowlers. Even if they might not get you wickets, they will be able to slow the scoring down because of the cleverness of how they bowl," Gavaskar was caught saying on-air.
"I would have thought that on these Australian wickets, there are big boundaries, so I thought you would have gone with both of them. But this is a new management, new thinking. They have gone with Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is a promising cricketer, make no mistake about that. But is he ready for Test cricket?" he further stated.
India will hope to build on the Perth triumph as they prepare for the next assignment in a day-night fixture at the Adelaide Oval, starting December 6.
