Nitish Kumar Reddy’s childhood coach Kumar Swamy has known the allrounder since he was six. And for him, the story of Nitish’s success is down to the work done by his father Mutyala Reddy as much as the cricketer himself. “Everyone wants to be a hero in their cinema but when it comes to Nitish’s story it is Mutyala who is the hero,” he said. “It is his father’s hard work which fuels Nitish to achieve something in life. He witnessed everything his father had undergone. Especially there was a lot of criticism even from his close family members about him not having a job and wasting his time, but the father never gave up.”
On Saturday at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, all that hard work came to fruition. Having already impressed on his first tour of Australia, Nitish went one step further to bail India out of a precarious situation in the Boxing Day Test, scoring a superb half-century.
The 21-year-old Nitish made his international debut against Bangladesh earlier in the year in October and went on to make his Test debut in Perth. “When he told me that he was going to play a Test match for India I did not know how to react. If you were expecting you would have had some reaction to it but neither I nor Nitish expected the call this early in his career. For 10 minutes I was in a state of shock,” Muthayala recalled. “I had to reconfirm with him if he was telling the truth.”
A young Nitish Kumar Reddy getting player of the match award from former India selector MSK Prasad as former India coach Rahul Dravid looks on (Special Arrangement)
“To be honest, I was not serious when I was young,” Nitish told bcci.tv. “My father left his job for me and there has been a lot of sacrifice behind my story. One day, I saw him crying because of the financial problems we were facing, and I was like, this is not how you can be. Then I got serious. I gave my first jersey to him and saw the happiness in his face.”
Despite the rise in popularity after playing for India and a hefty retention fee of Rs 6 crore from his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, the family continues to stay on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam in Madhurawada in a rented house.
“A few franchises wanted Nitish to get out of SRH and offered money over 15 crores,” Mutyala said. “When I told him about the offers Nitish in return questioned me ‘Who gave us life, where did I get my name from?’ I replied SRH. Then he said ‘Why should I leave them? If I do leave for the franchise which is giving me more money I have to prove myself again, even if I fail once I will be benched. But with SRH even if I have a couple of poor scores they will back me.’ I encouraged him to keep going ahead with this thought process.”
Nitish Kumar Reddy with his family. (Special Arrangement)
Humility comes easy for the Reddys, but the passion to work through obstacles and perseverance in dealing with criticism are traits that can be drawn out from the people who have witnessed this incredible father-son journey.
It all started off with Nitish being a mischievous child. “I just wanted his mind to get occupied by something at the time but eventually he found his calling in it,” Muthyala said. “He used to come from school every day at Zinc Ground around 3:00 in the noon. No matter how hot it was he used to turn up and watch matches then go and do his practice and return to watch matches. That is where I first noticed his dedication,” Swamy added.
“In a summer camp at VDCA (Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association) academy, he used to pick up batting stance and grip very quickly so we gave him the opportunity,” the coach said. “I remember it was his first year in districts in 2013 his performances were a bit up and down, His father was called in and was told your son is not fit enough to play cricket and make him concentrate on his studies,” Swamy conceded.
Nitish Kumar Reddy getting Test cap from his childhood hero Virat Kohli in Perth. (Special Arrangement)
Mutyala didn’t feel discouraged, he ensured that the intensity and level of Nitish’s practice went up a notch. “He used to practice at Zinc before but his father decided it was not enough and took him to the Municipal stadium in Visakhapatnam which is 15 Kms from Gajuwaka for a few days and Pothinamallaya Palem (both are sub-centres of VDCA) which is around 30 Km every day so that he could face better quality bowlers. In these grounds, there is an availability of turf wickets hence bowlers with a bit more pace and spinners with a bit more guile used to come for practice.”
Nitish was selected for the district the following year at 13 years old. But before he could reach his potential there was another minor speedbreaker in his journey. He had a swollen ankle four days ahead of the game against Prakasham in Ananthapuram. But Swamy, as the VDCA coach, insisted with selectors and his parents he wanted Nitish in the team for the tournament and match. They went on to lose and the coach had to bear with the criticism. “But I believed in him. I know him and he repaid my faith by scoring 99 in the next game against East Godavari, he scored another 140 odd in another game, and he went on to have a fruitful campaign and got selected for state U14 that year for the first time.”
Game awareness
In addition to going for U14 selection, Nitish also went for a selection of U16 district Probables but asked not to participate. Swamy had to make a request to VDCA about the matter and eventually, got the green flag. “Despite being an opener before Nitish was sent in to bat after the seventh wicket fell and managed to score 36 runs and was given the ball after 72 overs where he picked three wickets,” recalled Swamy. “If Nitish would not have performed would there be any value for Swamy’s word going forward in the association?” Mutyala asked. “But that is what Nitish has done, he has always repaid the faith shown by his coaches and others.”
A young Nitish Kumar Reddy during a BCCI award ceremony. (Special Arrangement)
When asked about what made him go out of his way to back Nitish as he did, Swamy recalled an anecdote. “Usually how do slip fielders’ mindset work? They are just anticipating for edges to come their way, but Nitish once seeing that the batter was trying to sweep the ball walked across the keeper to take that catch. He missed and it went for a boundary, but he had that presence of mind at 14 years, and told us he was ready for the next level. After he came back from scoring 1237 runs in the Vijay Merchant Trophy at the age of 16, I got his autograph on a bat along with my children.”
Nitish Kumar Reddy with Kumar Swamy’s children. (Special arrangement)
This was also at the age when Nitish started to set bigger goals like playing for India. And he wanted to improve his family situation. “That was the thought that changed him,” his father recalled.
Nitish was picked for a tour to Zimbabwe, but got injured and was left out of the squad. That is when he decided to get fitter. And after interactions with Hardik Pandya at NCA, he changed his diet. “He was a foodie. Whatever we cooked fish, prawns and chicken he used to eat it without a limit. But now he weighs before taking everything. For instance, one day it is 200 grams of chicken and one day it is 500 grams of prawn. After speaking to a nutritionist he optimised a diet suitable to his needs and has stuck to it,” Mutyala would say.
Nitish Kumar Reddy with his childhood coach Kumar Swamy (Special Arrangement)
Working on bowling
A cricketer who can bowl brisk medium pace and bat well is an eternal search in Indian cricket. Vijay Varma, who also worked with Nitish when he played for U-14 at the state level, was amongst the early spotters of Nitish’s potential in bowling. “He was a natural athlete and he could bowl quickly. He also was a quick learner and he always had the gift of pace from an early age. We made him bowl long spells, initially he used to get tired but we eventually raised the fitness standards as well.”
Nitish trained in Cuddupah for a couple of years. Varma would reunite with Nitish once again in Vijayanagaram and continued to harness his bowling skills. “We did video analysis on him and worked on minor things like head position and feet movement to improve on his bowling there. We used to work for four days on bowling and three days on batting.” Nitish can now bowl mid-130ks regularly and occasionally go up to 140kph. “The jump in pace was not overnight it took him about four to five years to get to that pace.”
While the pace was developing naturally, with inputs from Bhuvenshawar Kumar he would add an arsenal of in-swingers and out-swingers to his armoury, how to vary his wrist position subtly, and which deliveries to use at which stage of the game. He was picked as a bowler for Chennai Super Kings as a net bowler in 2021 before getting picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the auction in the 2023 IPL for Rs 20 lakhs where his career regained its momentum. Today, he is shining at one of the biggest of stages in world cricket.
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