Nitish Kumar Reddy Contributed significantly with his all-round skills to Sunrisers Hyderabad's 33-run win against Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday, May 6. The 22-year-old earned huge praise from Aakash Chopra after the game.
In the first innings, Reddy scored unbeaten 29 runs in 13 balls with the help of two fours and as many sixes. In the second innings, he shared the new ball with Pat Cummins and dismissed the in-form Prabhsimran Singh with his very first ball.
Chopra called him the best all-rounder of the ongoing tournament and put him ahead of more experienced players like Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey.
“He is the best all-rounder in this tournament at the moment. No other all-rounder has scored 200 runs and taken five or more wickets. When he missed a match, the team suddenly looked weak. He was unwell and as soon as he came back, he has looked fantastic,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra also praised how the Andhra Pradesh all-rounder has worked hard behind the scenes to increase his pace.
He said, “He is bowling in different phases. Why does your pace increase? It is because you feel you need to increase your pace. The pace will not increase on its own. He realized he had to do something. So he worked for it and has come after increasing his pace.”
The former India opener also mentioned the fact that Reddy has contributed in taking important wickets in the power play as well as the middle overs.
“He bowls seam-up balls in the powerplay and takes important wickets. He also bowls an over or two in the middle overs. He has been consistently performing well and contributing,” Chopra said.
He is making a case not just to select him but to introduce him to white-ball cricket: Aakash Chopra on Nitish Kumar Reddy
Aakash Chopra said that Reddy was always a very good batsman, but the maturity and consistency he has shown in this IPL season has helped him stake his claim for a regular place in India's white-ball team.
“As far as his batting is concerned, we all know, and I would have said probably two or three years ago, that Nitish Kumar Reddy was a great option for Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, it took him time to get there. We saw in the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne that he can bat well,” he said.
“So he's a good player, but the maturity, the consistency and the regular performances have come through a bit more this season and so, I think he's making a case for not just selecting him but playing him in white-ball cricket and giving him a bit more responsibility,” Chopra said.
In IPL 2026, the Visakhapatnam-born player has scored 222 runs in nine innings at an average of 31.71 and a strike rate of 166.92. He has taken seven wickets in 10 matches with the ball.
Get every cricket update! Follow us: :
Leave a Reply