Nitish Kumar Reddy spent most of day one at Lord’s doing something he was rarely asked to do in Australia last winter: hold a red ball and keep England quiet. Trusted by Rohit Sharma as early as the 14th over, the 21-year-old sent down 14 overs – as many as Mohammed Siraj – and picked up two wickets for his trouble. The spell may prove more significant than the numbers suggest, because it hinted that India might no longer feel a seamer light.
“After Australia tour I felt like I have to improve my bowling and my consistency,” Reddy said. “That’s what I looked about. And yeah, Pat is my captain, and he’s been brilliant in Australia and I have asked him some tips and he has been telling me how things would’ve been done in Australia, how can I go through in Australia. And that’s a great experience for me, sharing with Pat Cummins.”
Reddy’s pace still sits a touch below Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, yet the ball moved more often in his hands. The Hawkeye data showed an average of 0.9° of swing and a fraction more seam than Bumrah. Crucially, 47% of his deliveries would have hit the stumps – an uncomplicated plan that suits English conditions.
“Coming to this tour, I would say, working with Morne Morkel has been great for me. He’s working with me for couple of weeks and, we are seeing good progress in my bowling, and I’m really enjoying working with him.”
Morkel, appointed India’s bowling coach in May, asked Reddy to focus on a repeatable wrist position and a slightly shorter bound, the sort of nuts-and-bolts adjustment that can disappear in the noise of Twenty20. Pat Cummins, his IPL captain at Sunrisers, gave a more philosophical nudge: back your best ball and live with the occasional boundary. Together, the advice has helped Reddy translate white-ball promise into a format that still tests patience.
“We’ve been working on my consistency a lot since I get a bit of swing both ways,” Reddy said. “I just want to be consistent on the areas. So we are working on that. I’ve been working hard on my bowling for one year or two years. I’ve been doing a lot of hard work, but later on it is about understanding things and believing in myself. If you believe, that’s when your hard work comes on point. That’s what I’m realising now.”
The journey has not been linear. A side strain limited him to five overs across the entire IPL, forcing him to rebuild what coaches call “bowling loads” – simply, how many balls the body can tolerate in a week.
“After injury it’s been a bit tough for me to get into my rhythm,” Reddy said. “It had been hurting a bit after the injury as well. An the end of the IPL season, I got my bowling started into the matches and I felt great. I just want to enjoy the movement, want to bowl what my team wants from me and I guess that’s what I have done exactly, and pretty happy the way I bowled today, and I just want to continue tomorrow.”
Before arriving in London he played two first-class warm-ups and an intra-squad fixture, slowly stretching the run-up until the side felt normal again. The result was on show at Lord’s: less pace, more swing, stump-to-stump accuracy – a handy foil for Bumrah’s explosiveness and Siraj’s skiddy nip.
England’s dressing-room will have seen enough to add Reddy’s name to the evening debrief. India, meanwhile, may have found the third seamer they missed in Australia, and Reddy knows exactly whom to thank.
