A fairytale narrative is something that acts as the crux of any sporting achievement. At the iconic MCG, we witnessed one such moment when Nitesh Reddy crossed the three-figure mark in front of his family. As soon as Nitish cracked a loft down the ground off Mitchell Starc, and started celebrating the milestone, the cameras zoomed in on Mutalya Reddy, his father. His father couldn’t control his tears as he looked heavenwards, offering his prayers to someone up there. Even the commentators were in tears.
The raw emotions on view were a manifestation of the struggles and the toil put in by Nitish’s parents and the cricketer himself. Parents’ sacrifices act as the foundation stone for the success of their children. Occasionally, they might come into limelight, but they are akin to the background picture, who are ready to do everything for their sons or daughters.
Nitish’s father is no different. Earlier in the year, during the course of the Duleep Trophy, Nitish told RevSportz: “He got transferred to Rajasthan. He had some discussion with his colleagues and they said, ‘oh, Rajasthan, this is not good, that is not good’. I was just 11 or 12 years old, I guess. It was the early stage of my career; I had not played any league.
“At that time, he resigned from his job for me. It is something that I will remember for my life. He made the sacrifice for me. Of course, there were troubles. It was a government job, it was a big job at that time. He was humiliated by some people, relatives. He used to cry without letting me know. I took that as motivation.”
That Nitish travelled some 714.8 km away from his hometown to find a place in the ACA Academy gives further evidence of his sheer willpower to convert his dream into reality. It was at the academy, where he started to take up bowling seriously, under the tutelage of his coaches. “It was always about batting, I used to open the innings. So, bowling-wise, I used to swing a lot, inswing and outswing. I used to bat against the new ball and do some new-ball bowling. After some time, when I got into the academy, and then U-19 and U-23, I started to bowl more,” he said.
For the Latest Sports News: Click Here
Then came the turning point of his fledgling career. During the previous domestic season, he amassed over 350 runs in the Ranji Trophy. Despite batting at mostly number 7 in the line-up, Nitish made useful contributions. The highlight of his performances was his maiden first-class ton versus Bihar. It wasn’t just about the runs he scored. But it also was about how he collected those runs – crunchy drives, alongside playing against the turn as well with the turn. The all-rounder’s game seemed to be based more on the edicts of batsmanship.
That was followed by a stellar IPL, with Nitish notching up a tick over 300 runs. By then, the selectors and the Indian management had earmarked Nitish for higher honours. He was soon picked for the limited-overs series in Zimbabwe. Although he had to miss out on the opportunity due to an injury, the think-tank had already decided to take him on a tour to Australia.
Despite Nitish’s burgeoning potential, his skills still needed some polishing. During the Duleep Trophy game between India A and India B, at the Chinnaswamy, in Bengaluru, it felt as if Nitish was prone to edging deliveries to the slip cordon. There was also an inkling that he might have an issue against the short ball.
Just a few months later, at the colosseum of MCG, he copped a blow or two while facing the relentless Pat Cummins.He also ducked and swayed and navigated the relentless spell of fast bowling. He also showed measured judgment outside the off-stump and left enough deliveries on length. Nitish also tended to play more in the ‘V’. The transformation was noteworthy. Somewhere the backroom staff, especially Abhishek Nayar, the assistant coach, has to be credited for helping Nitish to fine-tune the nuts and bolts of his game.
Nitish’s eye-catching stroke-play and watertight defence are just one half of the memories that would be stored in the memory bank. The other half of it would be Nitish striking the ‘Pushpa 2’ movie pose of ‘jhukega nahi’ after reaching his fifty. And the sentiments of his father once his son completed the three-figure mark. Many decades laters, those who watched all those evocative moments might just end up recollecting them in small capsules.
Also Read: Fast, hostile, ruthless – Bumrah gives fitting riposte to the new kid on the block