"People who backbit about my father would now call him to praise me" - Nitish Kumar Reddy on how IPL changed his life

SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)'s breakthrough star Nitish Kumar Reddy has stated his performances in IPL 2024 turned his supportive father's detractors into admirers. He added that those who "backbit" about them now invite them to dinner.

Nitish's father, Mutyala Reddy, got a transfer to Rajasthan when his son was just eight years old and weeks away from starting his cricket practice in Andhra. With the dream of helping his son become a cricketer, he resigned from the job and dedicated his life to Nitish's journey and taking care of him.

“Amid all the criticism, my father somehow believed that my son is going to make big," Nitish told News18 CricketNext. "People who backbit about him would now call my father to praise me or would invite me and my father for dinner. You can see the progress and all. I’m so happy that my father is also getting back his lost respect."

In 2024, his second playing season, Nitish scored 303 at an average of 33.67 and a strike rate of 142.92 while batting in the middle order and also picked up three wickets, to be adjudged the Emerging Player of the Year.

"I straightaway called my father and he literally started crying" - Nitish Reddy on Zimbabwe call-up

The excellent performance led to predictions of him being a future India all-rounder and even earned him a call-up for the ongoing five-T20I tour of Zimbabwe.

“I had this feeling that I would be getting a chance in the Zimbabwe series. And I got that short call and I didn’t know what to do. I straightaway called my father and he literally started crying… like happy tears. Even my mom was so happy,” Nitish told News18 CricketNext.

However, a last-minute hernia injury ruled him out of what could have been his debut series.

“Unfortunately, because of this injury, I’m not a part of this Zimbabwe tour. But it’s a part of an athlete’s life. You have to accept whatever happens. If you ask me, this is not the point where I can stop. There are a lot of matches as well coming. I want to focus. I don’t want to demoralize myself. I want to focus on the future. What happened has happened. We can’t change it, right?” he added.

Nitish might get his second call-up when India will play three T20Is against Sri Lanka in August.