Nitish is too good not to bounce again, feels Vettori

Downturn: It was a forgettable season for Nitish.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

For Nitish Kumar Reddy, the 18th version of the IPL has lent a first-hand expertise of simply how fickle the T20 format will be.

At the beginning of this 12 months’s summer season ritual, the 22-year-old should have meant to construct on his breakthrough 2024 season. In Sunrisers Hyderabad’s run to final 12 months’s last, Nitish had been the shock package deal, his quickfire knocks and some overs of medium-pace offering Pat Cummins’ males higher depth within the two core departments.

The all-round expertise, in flip, helped the teenager from Andhra Pradesh get fast-tracked into India’s T20I and Test groups. And he had respectable success too, notching up a maiden Test century towards Australia on the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Down flip

But during the last two months within the IPL, Nitish has endured a conspicuous downturn. In 13 matches this season, the middle-order batter tallied simply 182 runs at 22.75. His strike charge of 118.95 was additionally not up to scratch. He can have to shift focus now to the five-Test tour of England, the place he is a part of an 18-member squad as considered one of two seam-bowling all-rounders alongside Shardul Thakur.

SRH coach Daniel Vettori threw his weight behind Nitish. “It’s always tricky to play that role at No. 4 or 5. But we know that Nitish, when he’s at his best, builds his innings and can then capitalise at the end against pace and spin. So I think it is just one of those seasons that’s a little bit of a learning for him, but he’s too good a player not to bounce back,” the bespectacled Kiwi instructed reporters.

With the ball, too, Nitish had a negligible presence, rolling his arm over in simply the final three matches. “He brought a side-strain into the tournament, and then it was just a slow, meticulous build-up. It was purely down to injury,” Vettori revealed.