All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy did well in the opening day of the Lord’s Test as India’s highest wicket-taker. Came to bowl in the 14th over of the innings, he ended up bowling 14 overs and picked up the wickets of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – both in his first over.

However, Nitish spoke about the chats he had with his IPL captain Pat Cummins as well as the Indian team’s bowling coach Morne Morkel as well.

“Yeah, it’s like after Australia tour, I felt like I have to improve my bowling and the consistency the most, that’s what I looked at. And yeah, Pat is my captain and he has been brilliant in Australia and I have asked him 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,” he stated.

“And yeah, coming to this tour also, 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. We have been working on my consistency a lot, since I got some bit of swing both ways and I just want to be consistent over all areas. So we are working on that and I have been working hard on my bowling since one year or two years now,” he further added.

Nitish Kumar Reddy also admitted that it had been tough for him to get his bowling loads up during the IPL and work on the rhythm after he sustained a side strain while playing against England in a T20I in January as well. He didn’t bowl in the IPL at the start of the season and only started doing so in the nets during the latter stages of the IPL as well.

“Yeah, to be honest, after injury it’s been a bit tough for me to get in my rhythm. Obviously I got a side strain and it [had] been a bit hurting me after the injury as well. So at the end of the IPL season, I got [back to] my bowling and started [getting] into the matches and I felt great. [Today] I just wanted to enjoy the moment and want to bowl what my team want from me. I guess that’s what I have done exactly and pretty happy the way I bowled today. I just want to continue tomorrow and get some wickets,” Nitish Kumar Reddy concluded.