'Reddy' or not, here comes Nitish!

Brisbane: It's alright to pick players on one's instinct for white-ball cricket, but red-ball cricket? An unforgiving format that tests your skills as much as it does your character over multiple days in different situations and in changing conditions -- a format that challenges your ability to adapt while remaining focussed for long hours. Only a long first-class grind can prepare a player for the Test.

Under head coach Gautam Gambhir, however, India have been rather adventurous while picking certain players. The selection of pacer Harshit Rana and handing him a Test debut in Perth after just 12 first-class matches was a brave call.

While the 22-year-old did a decent job as a third seamer in Perth, he was treated with some contempt by Travis Head in the pink-ball Test, taking him for eight fours off the 29 balls the left-hander faced off the bowler. 

The jury is still out on the wisdom behind Rana's selection, but Nitish Reddy, another Test debutant for India this Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, has had some impact, particularly with the bat.                      

Nitish has seen a remarkable rise in Test ranks after primarily being noticed as a merciless ball-basher in the last edition of the Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad. While his batting alone wouldn't have fetched him a place even in the squad, let alone in the playing XI, his medium pacers make him an irresistible package given the circumstances India are in insofar as their bowling resources are concerned.

With every pace-bowling all-rounder that emerges on the horizon, India look longingly for a shade or two of Kapil Dev in him. While it's impossible to replicate another all-rounder of that standard, they hope for someone who can man 10-15 effective overs and get some meaningful runs lower down the order to provide that balance in both departments, especially in overseas conditions.

Hardik Pandya did a decent job of it briefly, but his fragile body has restricted him to white-ball cricket duties.

The 21-year-old Andhra cricketer has given a good account of himself as a batter, coming up with innings of 41, 38 n.o., 42 and 42 in the two Tests besides a knock of 42 in the pink-ball warm-up game in Canberra. In fact, he is the second-highest run-getter (163) for India behind Yashasvi Jaiswal (185) and third overall (with Travis Head on top of the heap with 240 runs) in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

More than the amount of runs, the audacity with which he batted and the mindset he brought in for a debutant were standout features of his game. He pulled out big shots while batting with the tail and stonewalled the Aussie attack when needed, exhibiting his game awareness.

While maintaining that Nitish was still "very raw", assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate was excited with his rapid progress.  

"We are so chuffed with him from the prep week in Perth where he looked like he still needed to figure things out," he pointed out. "The way he worked in Perth and the game plans he implemented in Perth to get crucial runs there, I think to get us to 150 in that first game was amazing. There's still a little bit of work to do, he's very raw, but for a young kid, a 21-year-old, to come out like that and play three innings of the quality he has, it's super exciting."

Nitish's bowling, though, is still a work in progress. He has got a decent pace, to which he can certainly add a yard or two, and append more variety.          

"(He is) definitely a player you can keep your eye on in this series," Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach, said of Nitish. "He's one of the young guys that I've mentioned that has got that sort of batting all-round ability. He'll be a guy that can sort of hold the one end up first. He hits the bat a little bit harder than you think.

"I think in these sorts of conditions where there might be a little bit of seam movement up front, especially the first couple of days, he'll be a handy bowler, very accurate, wicket-to-wicket style of bowler. A lovely opportunity for him to fill that all-rounder spot. Any team in the world always wants the all-rounder that can take that load off your fast bowlers just to give them an extra bit of breathing time."