Former India player turned veteran commentator Sanjay Manjrekar said that Nitish Kumar Reddy’s stunning show with the bat during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia will create some selection headaches for the team going ahead. While praising the youngster’s batting effort in BGT 2024-25, Manjrekar added that he has a long way to go as far as his bowling is concerned as well.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar added, “It’s not going to be easy. He’s got the fundamentals, so that’s a long journey for him to become even a bit like Beau Webster, who looked good as a bowler. That’s going to be a headache now for India because he’s played the kind of innings that you don’t see too many people playing. His innings quality wise was the best innings an Indian batter played in that series. It was not an attacking, you know, taking the bowlers on kind of innings. He showed every facet of his batting.”

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While Nitish Kumar Reddy scored 114 in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test after Team India had their backs to the wall, he ended the series with poor shows. Manjrekar also hoped that the youngster could build on his brilliance in Melbourne as well.

“After that (hundred) there were three failures. So, you wonder where it’s going. Let’s hope that it’s not just a one-innings wonder. But he’s going to give India some headache because there’s some serious batting talent there. Let’s see how that pans out,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar also opined on KL Rahul’s performance in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“I think now we know what KL Rahul is about. We were talking about him being India’s best batter at the start of the series. He looked so compact, then got that 80 in Brisbane as well. We thought this might just change his career in the right direction. Then you saw the failures again. I don’t see him being left out for England considering that India still are looking for an opener. They don’t want to go to [Abhimanyu] Easwaran and KL Rahul, the last time he was there, played well. So, I see that opening combination continuing, unless Rohit Sharma comes in and throws spanner in the works,” he added. “Incredible. Also, overcoming the Mitchell Starc problem with that swinging ball. He was really the greatest news to come through. Top of the order against that kind of an attack on helpful pitches, to have two scores of 80 and a 160 was tremendous. Big gain for India.”