The city of Visakhapatnam is known as the Jewel of the East Coast because of its picturesque surroundings and natural beauty. But people in distant corners of India now associate the city with the name of Nitish Kumar Reddy. The 21-year-old lad from Vizag has created a huge impact in India’s cricket scene. After his sterling performances against Bangladesh, he has now been selected as a reserve player for the tour by New Zealand.
A terrific display against Bangladesh in the second T20 international took everyone by surprise. “Who is this young man? Where did he come from ?” These were the questions on everyone’s lips. The answer is that while all eyes were on the superstars of Indian cricket, a new youngster was fast rising and when he exploded on the scene, it caught all the pundits napping.
In the second T20 against Bangladesh he gave an outstanding display and rescued India. He rattled up 74 runs from 34 balls and took India from a precarious 41 for 3 to a safe 149 before he was out.
The men who helped Nitish
None of it would have been possible if some important men had not provided him the support and help that he needed at this stage of his career. First among these people was his father Mutyala Reddy who had great faith in the ability of his son.
From a young age Nitish’s talent became obvious. He was spotted by former Indian Cricketer and selector M.S.K. Prasad during Under-12 and Under-14 matches and was picked up to be trained at the ACA academy in Kadapa under coaches Madhusudhana Reddy and Srinivasa Rao.
But then came a crisis in their family when Nitish’s father received a transfer order to Udaipur in Rajasthan. But such was Mutyala’s conviction that the boy was capable of great things, that he took a huge gamble and literally put every penny on his back.
He realised that his son’s cricket career would be affected if he relocated. So he gave up his job and decided to put all his energies into developing the cricket career of his son.
Nitish said recently: “I was 12 or 13 when my dad quit his job because he was going to be transferred to Udaipur. He analysed the cricket being played there and felt that my career may be harmed by regional politics. So my dad quit his job and dedicated his time to my game. Our relatives questioned his risky decision but he was the first person who believed in me and helped me.”
But there were others too who were instrumental in enabling Nitish to achieve success. One of them was his captain in the Sunrisers IPL team, Aussie Pat Cummins. According to former Pakistan batting star Basit Ali, it was Cummins who reposed his trust in Nitish Kumar as well as Abhishek Sharma and helped these players to develop.
“A special mention must be made about Pat Cummins. It would be unfair if he is not given credit for the rise of Nitish and Abhishek. He supported both of them immensely in the IPL and we can never forget that,” said Basit Ali.
The astute Cummins has emerged as one of the best captains in the game now and he knows all his players inside out. He is a comrade in arms for his fellow players and he was quick to realise the amount of talent that Nitish had. Cummins began to energetically promote him.
The rest was up to Nitish himself to prove that his captain was right and he did so in a spectacular manner. Now Nitish has his goals set out before him. Hard work and disciplined focus on the game without being misled by the excessive praise, will be the qualities that will enable him to rise further. Cricket lovers of Andhra have pinned their hopes on him and he must try his best to live up to their expectations.
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