Nitish Kumar Reddy

Kaki Nitish Kumar Reddy (; born 26 May 2003) is an Indian International cricketer who is an all-rounder. He bats right-handed and bowls right-arm medium fast. He plays for Andhra in domestic cricket & plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. Nitish made his T20I debut on 6 October 2024 and his Test cricket debut for India on 22 November 2024 during the 2024–25 Border–Gavaskar Trophy.

Early life and career

Nitish was born on 26 May 2003 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and is the son of former Hindustan Zinc employee Mutyala Reddy.

Nitish started playing cricket at the age of 5 with a plastic bat and would regularly visit the Hindustan Zinc grounds to watch seniors play cricket. With support from his father, who quit his job when he was transferred to Udaipur, to help his son pursue a cricket career, Nitish visited VDCA camps and initially trained under coaches Kumara swamy, Krishna Rao and Watekar.

Nitish said of his father's decision: "I was 12 or 13 when my dad quit his job. He was transferred to Udaipur. He analysed the cricket there and was afraid of the politics that might affect my game. He quit his job and dedicated his time to my game. Relatives questioned his decisions. He is the first person who believed in me".

Nitish was spotted by former Indian cricketer and selector MSK Prasad during Under-12 and Under-14 age group matches and got picked up to train in the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) academy in Kadapa under the coaching of Madhusudhana Reddy and Srinivasa Rao.

He followed this up with a trailblazing season scoring 441 against Nagaland, the quadruple ton coming in just 345 deliveries and ending up with 1237 runs at an average of 176.41, a tournament record, along with 26 wickets in the 2017–18 Vijay Merchant Trophy. This earned him the BCCI ‘Best Cricketer in the Under-16’ Jagmohan Dalmiya award for the season 2017–2018. Nitish is the first player from the ACA to receive the award.

IPL career

Nitish was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 20 Lakh, in the 2023 Indian Premier League auction. He played just 2 matches in the league where he bowled a few overs but did not get to bat. He had a breakout performance in the 2024 season, where he won the Emerging Player of the Year Award by scoring 303 runs with strike rate of 142 with crucial knocks against Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals and also picked up 3 wickets in the tournament showcasing his immense talent and consistency throughout the tournament. He was subsequently retained by SRH in the 2025 IPL Auction for Rs. 6 Crores.

International career

Nitish made his T20I debut against Bangladesh in 3 match series on 6 October 2024 at Gwalior and scored 16 runs off 15 balls while chasing. He came to limelight in the 2nd match of the series which held at Delhi on 9 October 2024 where he scored 74 runs off 35 balls with a strike rate of 217. In the same match, he bowled with figures of 2/23, taking 2 wickets including Mahmudullah, and awarded player of the match. With his excellent performance in the series he was named in the squad of Border–Gavaskar Trophy Nitish debuted in Test cricket for India on 22 November 2024, in Perth, during the Border–Gavaskar Trophy series. He was the top scorer with 41 runs in the first innings of this match and scored 38 not out in the 2nd innings. In the second test, he proved to be the standout performer for India in both innings, top scoring in both the innings with 42 runs each. Despite his efforts, India lost the match. At this point he had failed to reach a maiden half century narrowly in all four innings he had played. In the fourth test match of the series, he batted at No. 8 in the first innings with India's score at 196/6 and built a crucial partnership of 128 runs off 285 balls with Washington Sundar, scoring his first international Test century.

In December 2024 (BGT), he scored the first ever century by an No.8 Indian batter in Australia.

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Nitish Kumar
2003 births
Living people
Indian cricketers
India Twenty20 International cricketers
21st-century Indian sportsmen
India Test cricketers
Andhra cricketers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Telugu cricketers
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers