Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has praised the Indian team management for giving all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy enough opportunities to showcase his talent during the recently concluded 3-match T20I series against Bangladesh.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former cricketer was particularly appreciative of the opportunity given to Reddy to bat at No 4 while the likes of Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag and Rinku Singh were pushed down the order.
“Their thinking was to establish Nitish Kumar Reddy in this series. He should be grateful that the Indian team thought they should do like that. You don’t get that number easily. Hardik (Pandya), Rinku (Singh) or Riyan Parag could have also played at No. 4. However, you asked Nitish to play.” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra also compared Reddy’s six hitting ability to that of Sanju Samson, who was at his lethal best against Banglaesh on Saturday. He said, ” The Player of the Match performance he gave in the second match, the way he batted, he also has the same ability that Sanju has. He can hit straight sixes while standing in his position,” he elaborated.”
Reddy had played a crucial 74-run knock (off 34 deliveries) during the 2nd T20I encounter that helped team India get to a score of 221/9 in their 20 overs and eventually win the match comfortably by 86 runs.
Nitish Reddy is a work in progress:
Chopra also stated that Reddy’s bowling was a work in progress as underlined by the beating he received at the hands of Litton Das during the 3rd T20I clash. The commentator said, “He (Ntish Reddy) is a work in progress in bowling and it was seen in yesterday’s match as well. Litton Das hit five fours in an over. He didn’t have an idea how to come out of it, whether to bowl slower ones, yorkers, or something else. He couldn’t figure that out and he (Litton) kept hitting,”
