Delhi: On the third day of the ongoing fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy match between India and Australia in Melbourne, when Team India was at 191/6, Nitish Kumar Reddy came to the crease. At this time the team was in a difficult situation. But, Nitish had different intentions. He showed patience and understanding from the beginning and he got the support of Washington Sundar. Both tried to handle the innings.
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Sundar lost his wicket on the last ball of the 112th over. He scored 50 runs in 162 balls. Then after the arrival of Mohammad Siraj, Nitish took the strike in the 115th over. On the third ball, he sent Scott Boland’s ball over mid-on for a four and completed his first international century. At the end of the day’s play, Reddy remained unbeaten on 105 runs.
‘One day I saw my father crying’
Nitish started playing cricket at the age of just 5 years. His father, Mutyala Reddy, was an employee at Hindustan Zinc, but left his job to help his son in his cricket career.
In an interview given to Star Sports, Nitish told that initially he did not take cricket seriously. But an incident changed his perspective. He said, “My father left his job because of me. One day I saw him crying because of financial problems. At that time I felt that if he has made so much sacrifice, then I should not make fun of cricket.”
Got the test cap from my idol Kohli
Nitish also told that he used to count his age to ensure that Virat Kohli does not retire before his debut. He got his test cap from his idol Kohli. A selfie incident of Nitish also went viral, in which he secretly clicked a photo with Kohli.
Nitish’s cricket journey was not easy. After his father left his job, the family moved to Visakhapatnam. There Nitish started training in VDCA camp. During the Under-12 and Under-14 matches, former BCCI selector MSK Prasad identified him and sent him for training at Andhra Cricket Association Academy, Cuddapah.
Reddy is the second highest run scorer in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has scored 284 runs in 6 innings at an average of 71. During this period, all the innings from his bat came when the team needed it the most.