Who is Nitish Reddy, The Andhra All-rounder Who Rescued SRH With a Quickfire Fifty?

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. For Sunrisers Hyderabad, it was Nitish Reddy, who delivered an innings-saving knock for his side today, as they took on the Punjab Kings in Mullanpur today. SRH lost the toss and was sent out to bat first. What should have been a cakewalk for one of the most lethal batting sides in the IPL this season turned out to be a nightmare, as PBKS’ bowling attack wreaked havoc over them. A clinical initial spell from Arshdeep Singh ensured that dangermen Travis Head and Aiden Markram were scalped early, as SRH were down three wickets for just 39 runs.

Then in came Nitish Reddy, the 20-year-old, who stood all by himself and put on a clinic as he slashed and dashed his way through the PBKS bowlers with ease. On a day when even the hard-hitting phenom Heinrich Klassen could not find a way to make the difference, it was Nitish, who took on the likes of the Punjab bowling attack and pummelled them for sixes and fours galore, nothcing up a fine fifty, his first in the IPL, as he steered SRH to a fairly competitive total. Nitish’s innings of 64 runs in just 37 balls was peppered with 4 fours and 5 sixes.

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With the ball, he added a vital wicket of PBKS’ finisher Jitesh Sharma as SRH clinched a narrow 2-run win. Reddy also claimed the catch of Prabsimran Singh, capping off a memorable outing with the Player of the Match award. Not only that, his allround performance made him the first Indian uncapped player in IPL history to score a fifty, take a wicket and claim a catch. At 20 years old, he became the second youngest Indian uncapped player to score an IPL fifty as well.

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Reddy may have made his mark in this IPL season in only his second game, but he made his IPL debut last year for SRH playing two matches, but did not get to bat and returned wicketless in his two outing with the ball. In the 2023 IPL Auction, SRH picked him at his base price of INR 20 Lakh. He was part of the Chennai Super Kings camp as a net bowler ahead of IPL 2021.

Who is Nitish Kumar Reddy –SRH’s new young all-rounder?

Hailing from Visakhapatnam, the Andhra player has played 17 first-class games, making his debut in 2020 against Kerala. He has scored 566 at 20.96 and has 52 wickets to his name. In 22 List A appearances Reddy has managed 422 runs at 36.63 and claimed 14 wickets. He only has nine T20 games to his name, including the four IPL games he has played so far. In the 2023-24 Ranji season, Reddy made 366 runs in seven matches including and hundred and a fifty.

But Reddy made heads turn in age group cricket scoring 1237 runs at an average of 176.41 in the 2017-18 Vijay Merchant Trophy – a tournament record that earned him the Best Cricketer in the Under -16 Jagmohan Dalmiya award at the BCCI annual awards for the 2017–2018 season. He also went on to represent India B in the U19 age group.

‘Believing in myself’ – Nitish Reddy

After his match-winning performance, Reddy said he always believed in himself to perform at the big stage. “For me it’s like a big contribution for my team and for myself. I have been telling myself that I should believe in myself. The seamers were bowling really well, I didn’t want to take on them. I knew that the spinners would come and I wanted to attack them, I just did that. I just want to continue this performance with the bat or ball or with the fielding, I just want to be like this”.