Nitish Kumar Reddy reveals his struggle in his early cricketing days, Check out

There, he wasn’t “serious” about playing cricket at that point in time, but something changed for Nitish when he saw tears drawn across his father’s cheeks, because of their actual financial struggle. For the young all-rounder, it marked a transformation when he promised to work harder and rise higher in the sport that took shape in a fine debut for India in the first Test against Australia at Perth. Reddy produced an impressive show, scoring 41 and 38 runs in the two innings against the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood at Optus Stadium. He also claimed a wicket as India registered a massive 295-run win.

“To be very honest, I was not at all serious when I was young,” the player said in a video released by the BCCI on Thursday.

“My father left his job for me and there is a lot of sacrifice hidden behind my life story. One day I went to him and saw him in tears, he was suffering financially, and I simply couldn’t say that my father made all sacrifices and I played cricket for fun.

“At that time, I became serious and I got the growth. I worked hard, and it paid well. As a son from a middle-class family, I am so proud that my father is happy now. I gave my first jersey to him and saw the happiness in his face,” he added.

The 21-year-old is expected to keep his place in the Second Test amidst the underpink, at least as far as his 42 runs from 32 balls achieved in the day-night warm-up game at Canberra versus PM’s XI.

In the second innings at Perth, Reddy forged an unbroken 77-run stand with his idol Virat Kohli, who lent him his debut Test cap ahead of going on to fulfill a childhood dream.

Recalling the selfies he clicked with Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma back then at the 2018 BCCI awards night, Reddy said, “This is a very security photo because at that time, he (Virat Kohli) was so popular. He felt, if I do not get a chance for photo later, to take a picture now.

” This reminds me of my childhood memories: from childhood, I was a huge fan of Virat bhaiya. I saw each match of him then one day he scored a hundred and celebrated it.

“I liked this celebration a lot because back then, I used to calculate my age maybe he wouldn’t retire when I might be debuting for India.” On his partnership with Kohli, Reddy said, “Now playing with him and I was seeing him close to 10 runs, then five runs and I was thinking, he’s close to getting his hundred. Well, even I didn’t realize that I was close to getting my fifty-it would be my first fifty in Tests if I scored 12 runs

“I was so pumped up when he got his 81st hundred and that was the greatest moment to see.” He also included the important factor of the advice given to him by KL Rahul before making his debut.

“I’m in a little bit of a nervous state. I’m not sure how I will be able to interact with players that I’ve grown seeing on the screen,” said one, “but if I have a problem, I want to go he has some solutions”. “There are good vibes which I feel from him. And the suggestions he gives, work it out for me.” “Once, he said, ‘macha, when you go out in the centre, everything is going so fast. Don’t go so fast, just slow down the game’. It actually helped me before going out to bat in my debut match because my first match went in that way; everything happened so fast in seconds.” The all-rounder explained his preparation for high-pressure games, saying: “I do like doing a lot of shadow practising. At that time, I visualise bowlers who are going to bowl to me and what all shots I can play to them as per the situation.

When you actually face them in the centre, it’s like, ‘arey, you already practiced against them in shadow practice’. So, that’s how I keep my routine simple.” Reddy, who s…