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Nitish Kumar Reddy was delightfully surprised when star batter and his idol, Virat Kohli, handed him the Test cap.
Nitish Kumar Reddy receiving his maiden Test cap from Virat Kohli (X)
Nitish Kumar Reddy received his maiden Test cap on Friday as he debuted in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
The pace-bowling all-rounder was presented with his cap by Virat Kohli.
When the 21-year-old was asked about what he was feeling at that moment, at the post-match press conference at the end of the first day’s play, he said: “It was a great feeling. I always dreamt of playing for India and it was fantastic to receive the cap from Virat Kohli, who has been my idol since I started playing cricket.”
Along with Nitish, India handed a debut to pacer Harshit Rana, who was presented his cap by Ravichandran Ashwin.
“We knew about our selection and just decided to be calm and not get too excited. We were having dinner and we were keeping calm as last week,” Nitish revealed.
“We did not want to take too much pressure. We had a cycle ride as well last evening, so that was good,” he added.
India were all out for 150 at tea but Nitish top-scored with 41 off 59 balls.
“It was a good start, not a dream innings but a good start. To be honest, the India A series helped me a lot because it was my first time to Australia. Playing on this wicket compared to India, there are a lot of differences, the bounce etc. I felt there was more (help) off the wicket here (than at MCG), but apart from that the bounce and everything was the same as Melbourne,” he said.
“I just went with my plans and my partner Rishabh (Pant) is an attacking batter, and he was guiding me all the time. There was not much drift for (Nathan) Lyon and I decided to get some quick runs and help the team move ahead,” he added.
In reply, Australia was left teetering at 67/7 at stumps. Skipper and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah led the Indian attack with 4/17 and fellow fast bowler Mohamed Siraj took 2/17 on a difficult day for batting. Harshit also got his first Test wicket.
“We were trying to hit the right areas. We were discussing disciplined bowling, so that’s what I think Bumrah, Siraj and Harshit have done,” Nitish said.
“Obviously, the wicket is helping a lot and we don’t need to do a lot to get the wicket, just bowl in the right areas and let the ball do the rest,” he added.
