Ind vs Eng 3rd Test: Nitish Kumar Reddy strikes early as pacers keep struggling

India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (right) celebrates the wicket of England’s Ben Duckett at Lord’s, London, yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

It was supposed to be returning India pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, along with Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, the heroes of the Birmingham Test, who would provide the head start after England won the toss and, for once, opted to bat. But the visitors failed to claim a wicket in the opening hour, much to the disappointment of the Indian fans in the stands.

Before the match, there was a feeling that the Lord's pitch would be tough to bat on, but that was not the case. The wicket did provide a bit of movement and bounce, but somehow, England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett survived the initial test. However, after the first drinks interval, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, made the initial dents by dismissing the openers.

Crawley left shocked

Bowling from the Nursery End, Reddy was lucky to get Duckett's wicket with a delivery that was going down leg-side. In trying to flick it, the left-hander offered Rishabh Pant a simple catch. Reddy then got Crawley with a peach of a delivery that even Bumrah would have been proud of. The ball jumped off the good length area and moved away late, and Crawley edged it to Pant. While departing, the batsman appreciated the delivery, indicating with his wrist how the ball kicked up and also moved away.

Reddy had played all five Test matches on the tour of Australia but met with limited success. His high point was the century (114) he got in the fourth Test at Melbourne. Besides that, he had a good outing at Perth (41 & 38) and Adelaide (42 & 42). His form went downhill, barring the century at MCG. In the
five matches, he had four wickets with two in an innings at the MCG.

Backed despite failures

Despite being a total failure in the final Test at Sydney (0 & 4), he was picked as one of the two pace bowling all-rounders for the current tour of England. After Shardul Thakur's flop show at Leeds, Reddy was brought in, but scored just one run and was still retained for the Lord's Test.