Gautam Gambhir, head coach of the Indian national cricket team, opened up about young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy not getting a chance to bowl in the second Test match against the West Indies national cricket team.
Coach Gautam Gambhir justified Shubman Gill’s decision not to field all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, saying it doesn’t matter whether the all-rounder bowls or not as he has gained experience playing Test matches in home conditions.
Nitish Kumar Reddy made a good 43 against West Indies.
The Andhra and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder played for India in both Test matches of the home series against the West Indies national cricket team.
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India had a resounding 2-0 win against the visiting team, but Nitish Kumar Reddy did not contribute much to the victory despite playing in the match.
In the Test series opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, West Indies’ Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled four overs in the first innings and none in the second. He also did not get a chance to bat in India’s only innings. The only noteworthy thing Nitish Kumar Reddy did in this match was the brilliant catch he took to run back Tajnarine Chanderpaul.
Nitish Kumar Reddy’s non-use continued as the match shifted to Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. In his first innings with the bat for India, the all-rounder smashed 43 runs and then focused solely on his defense.
India defeated West Indies for 248 in 81.5 overs and then imposed a chase. Roston Chase’s side performed better in the innings, scoring 390 in 118.5 overs. However, throughout both innings, Nitish Kumar Reddy was given no chance to bowl.
Look, I don’t think it matters to me how many overs he bowls – Gautam Gambhir
At the post-match press conference in Delhi, coach Gautam Gambhir said that although Reddy could not bowl, he had gained a lot of experience on the field. He said:
“Listen, for me, I don’t think it matters how many overs he bowls. It’s important that he has experience and domestic experience. Sometimes you can learn a lot just by playing a game of cricket, and that’s a Test match. We don’t want to use a 23-year-old only for tough tours away from home. It’s not fair to him if we decide to only play him on overseas tours, whether it’s Australia or South Africa or New Zealand. If you’ve done well in the UK, I think it’s worth trying in a domestic environment.”
Wherever there is an opportunity to put him in an Indian environment, we will continue to do that – Gautam Gambhir
Coach Gautam Gambhir also said that it would be unfair to play Reddy only in overseas matches and wanted to give Reddy a chance in Indian conditions as well. he said:
“And wherever we get an opportunity to put him in an Indian environment, we’ll continue to do that, because it’s important to develop players like Nitish, because we know bowling all-rounders are not seen very often. And we’ve been talking about seam bowling all-rounders for decades, so whenever we get that opportunity, we’ll continue to develop him,” he added.
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