 "India all-rounder Nitish Reddy celebrates after bringing up his maiden international half-century in just his second appearance during the second T20I against Bangladesh in Delhi. AP")
Nitish Kumar Reddy credited captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir for granting him the licence to play fearless cricket after the batting all-rounder played a starring role in India’s clinical 86-run victory over Bangladesh in the second T20I in Delhi on Wednesday.
Reddy brought up his maiden international half-century in just his second appearance, bringing up the milestone in 27 deliveries and going on to score 74 off just 34 balls.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad batter added a whirlwind 108-run partnership with Rinku Singh, who had brought up his fifty facing one fewer ball, as the pair helped the Men in Blue recover from a shaky start and post a massive 221/9 on the board after being invited to bat by the Tigers.
Reddy later chipped in with the ball as well, collecting 2/23 including the wicket of veteran Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmudullah as India restricted the visitors to a modest 135/9, clinching the three-match series with a game to spare as a result.
“Feels great to represent India, feel so proud about this moment. Grateful for everything. I should give credit to captain and coach. They gave me the licence to play fearless cricket.
“I took my time initially, but after that no-ball everything went in my favour. It feels great to play for the Indian team. I want to continue in this same way. Want to keep repeating such good performances,” Reddy said while accepting the Player of the Match award at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia were off to a promising start with senior spin-bowling all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz conceding 15 runs in the first over. Bangladesh, however, clawed back with three wickets in quick succession to reduce the hosts to 41/3 inside the powerplay with the pace trio of Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman collecting a wicket each.
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav later revealed he “wanted” the middle-order in a situation like this where they walked in after a mini-collapse and found themselves tasked with the responsibility of steering the team to safety.
Surya added that both Reddy and Rinku batted “exactly the way he wanted”.
“I wanted that situation, wanted my batters in that situation. Happy for both (Rinku and Nitish) of them. They batted exactly the way I wanted. You got to go out there and express. Just the jersey changes, rest remaining remains the same,” Surya said during the presentation ceremony.
What stood out in Surya’s captaincy on Wednesday was his frequent rotation of bowlers and making full use of the bowling resources at his disposal. What’s more, each of the seven bowlers deployed by the hosts in Delhi ended up grabbing at least one wicket.
“I wanted to see what different bowlers can do in different situations. Can they give me the difficult overs. Sometimes Hardik won’t bowl, sometimes Washington Sundar won’t bowl. I wanted to see what the other guys had in store, really happy with it. It was his (Nitish) day, I thought let him enjoy and make it large,” Surya added.
Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, meanwhile, backed his decision to bowl but lamented the Tigers repeating the mistakes they had committed in Gwalior.
“I think we made the same mistakes (like the first game), not a good thing as a team. We need to improve. I think it was a good decision (to bowl). They batted well after the first 6-7 overs, we didn’t execute our plans after that. Need to take responsibilities as batsmen, we got to believe in ourselves. The way our bowlers bowled, they were impressive, but we couldn’t take wickets in the middle overs like I said,” Shanto said.
The two teams travel to Hyderabad for the third and final T20I, which has been effectively reduced to a dead rubber thanks to India’s clinical victories in the first two matches. The match takes place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.