Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels Nitish Kumar Reddy’s impressive batting during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia could create selection dilemmas for the team moving forward. While praising the 21-year-old’s century in Melbourne during BGT 2024-25, Manjrekar remarked that his bowling still needs significant improvement.
Reddy, a surprise pick for the five-match Test series Down Under as an all-rounder, shone with the bat but struggled to make an impact with his pace bowling. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar stated that Reddy is still raw as a bowler but admitted his batting heroics in Australia would make it tough for the selectors to overlook him.
“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,” Manjrekar said.
“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,” the 59-year-old added.
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Reddy played a remarkable knock of 114 in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test when India was under pressure but finished the series with three low scores. Manjrekar expressed hope that the youngster will build on his Melbourne brilliance.
“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,” the former India batter concluded.
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Nitish Kumar Reddy’s performance statistics in BGT 2024-25
Reddy featured in all five Tests of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scoring 298 runs at an average of 37.25. His highlights included a century (114) in Melbourne, along with scores of 41 and 38* on debut in Perth, and 42 in both innings of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
With the ball, the 21-year-old took five wickets at an average of 38, claiming one wicket each in Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane, and two in Sydney.
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