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All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy starred with both bat and ball in India's second T20I of the ongoing three-match home series against Bangladesh. The youngster was adjudged the Player of the Match for his 74 off 34 balls and figures of 4-0-23-2.
Nitish's father Mutyala recently opened up on how his son has been taking tips from senior all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Stating that the 21-year-old follows a similar diet as Hardik, he told The Indian Express:
"He always played in an age-group higher than his age, so played a lot with the seniors. He used to observe their game, routines and diet. He always takes advice from Hardik. The diet which Nitish is following at the moment has been advised by Hardik. It is almost a similar diet."
Mutyala also recalled how he resigned from his job at Hindustan Zinc after being transferred to Udaipur from Visakhapatnam. He mentioned that he made the decision for the sake of Nitish's cricketing career, adding:
"Since I did not know Hindi, I was in two minds whether to go or not. Though he hadn’t played for the state, he was playing well in district cricket. His coaches insisted that Nitish had a good future. So I decided to quit the job and shape his career."
It is worth mentioning that Nitish Kumar Reddy impressed many with his performances in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League. Playing for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), he scored 303 runs across 11 innings and received the Emerging Player of the Year award.
"We have worked on the downswing a lot" - Nitish Kumar Reddy's childhood coach on the youngster's power-hitting
In the aforementioned interview, Nitish Kumar Reddy's childhood coach Nirmal Kumar spoke about how the player worked hard on things like the downswing of his bat and weight transfer ahead of IPL 2024. He said:
"He always had the ability and power but last year we worked extra with him. We have worked on the downswing a lot, where you make the impact for the ball to for a six where you have to use that power, when you have to do that body weight transfer, and how much speed you have to use for the distance you want to get we worked on these things."
Nirmal also suggested that Nitish always wanted to bowl fast like South Africa's legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis, adding:
"From his early days he wanted to bowl quick, just like Kallis. Whatever kind of cricketer Kallis is, Nitish has the same capabilities."
Nitish Kumar Reddy's heroics helped India beat Bangladesh by 86 runs in the second T20I and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The third and final match will be played in Hyderabad on Saturday, October 12.
