Nitish Reddy on his success in his recent bowling, credits Pat Cummins and Morne Morkel for the improvement.
Nitish Reddy credits Cummins and Morkel for bowling improvement.
After India felt like a seamer light in Australia, Nitish Reddy attributed his improvement with the ball to his training with India bowling coach Morne Morkel and Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins. Reddy, who was the all-rounder on that trip, was not utilised nearly enough as a bowler despite his impressive batting performance and century at MCG.
The fact that captain Shubman Gill trusted him enough to introduce him as early as the 14th over and then bowl him for 14 overs, as many as Mohammed Siraj, should be more encouraging for Reddy and India than the two wickets he claimed on the first day at Lord’s.
Surprisingly, he extracted the most average seam, marginally more than Jasprit Bumrah, despite his slower pace naturally swinging the ball more than other seamers on average. He most frequently attacked the stumps as well.
“After the Australia tour I felt like I have to improve my bowling and my consistency,” Reddy said. “That’s what I looked [at]. And yeah, Pat is my captain [in the IPL], and he’s been brilliant in Australia, and I have asked him [for] some tips and he has been telling me how things would have been done in Australia, how can I go through in Australia. And that’s a great experience for me, sharing with Pat Cummins.
“Coming to this tour, I would say, working with Morne Morkel has been great for me. He’s working with me for a couple of weeks, and we are seeing good progress in my bowling, and I’m really enjoying working with him.”
Reddy played the first-class games and one intra-squad game before the Test matches. “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.”
“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.”