Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has praised Nitish Kumar Reddy for bowling a stunning spell in the second T20I against Afghanistan. He added that batting all-rounders like Reddy, Venkatesh Iyer, and Suryansh Shedge should be encouraged when they don’t have a good match with the ball as well. Reddy delivered a spell of 3/24 in three overs as India restricted Afghanistan to 159/8 before achieving the target with seven wickets and 31 balls in hand to seal the three-match series 2-0 ahead of the final match.
During a discussion on Sony Sports, Gavaskar said, “Nitish Kumar Reddy is a very fine prospect. When he started in the IPL, he wasn’t much of a bowler then, in that first year before he went to Australia. He was more of a batter. The batting technique was very good. A couple of overs he bowled towards the end of that first season, that’s where he looked as if he could be a very fine all-round cricketer.”
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“Venkatesh Iyer, Suryansh Shedge – these are all promising all-rounders, and they have to be given the opportunity to develop. Don’t rush them in. Develop them and also at the same time, encourage them when they don’t have a good match. These are the guys you want to keep an eye on. Help them and encourage them to take their bowling also a little bit seriously because they are primarily in the team as batters. Sometimes when you are in the team primarily as batters, you tend to think as batters. If you start to think a little bit like bowlers, they will be absolutely fantastic, and India then has the options,” he further added.
However, Sunil Gavaskar added that Nitish Kumar Reddy’s spell in the second T20I match against Afghanistan shows that he learned from his mistakes in the first match as well.
“In the last match, he gave away 30 runs in two overs. Now he has taken three wickets for less than 30 runs. It just tells you that he has learned from it. That is something that you have got to see. If somebody has got natural talent but he is not applying his cricketing thinking, then he is not going to make much progress. You can see with Nitish that he wants to improve every time, and that’s why he has got a great future,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.
