Nitish Kumar Reddy throws his hat into the ring for T20 World Cup, picks up hat-trick in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Nitish Kumar Reddy, who currently finds himself out of India’s T20 squad, has thrown his hat into the ring for the World Cup selection by picking up a hat-trick in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Friday. The all-rounder picked up the wickets of Harsh Gawli, Harpreet Singh and Rajat Patidar in the third over of the innings. This performance comes amidst the poor show by Shivam Dube in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, and hence the selectors might be forced to look at Reddy if Dube continues to slide down in the pecking order.

Reddy was recently part of India’s Test and ODI squads for the series against South Africa, but was overlooked for the T20I setup as Hardik Pandya made a comeback from his injury after a three-month absence.

Nitish was at his best against Madhya Pradesh as he returned with figures of 3/17 in three overs. However, his effort wasn’t enough as the Patidar-led side came on the right side of the result.

Reddy’s hat-trick reduced Madhya Pradesh to 14/3 in the third over; however, Rishabh Chouhan and Rahul Batham stepped up for the latter, ensuring a four-wicket win with 15 balls to spare.

Madhya Pradesh’s four-wicket win gave Andhra four points to begin the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Reddy’s performance with the bat

Nitish Reddy batted at No.4 for Andhra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tie against Madhya Pradesh, managing just 25 runs off 27 balls, including three boundaries. The right-hander was bogged down in the middle as he played several dot balls with increased pressure on the side.

Andhra failed to get going with the bat after the side was asked to bat first. The side was bundled out for 112 as they even failed to play out the full quota of 20 overs after being dismissed in 19.1 overs.

For Andhra, opening batter Srikar Bharat top-scored with a knock of 39 runs off 31 balls with the help of 4 boundaries and 2 sixes. Earlier, Nitish Reddy was a part of India’s playing XI for the Guwahati Test, which the hosts eventually lost by a mammoth 408 runs against the Proteas.

Reddy failed to leave a mark, and his selection was criticised by several pundits after he played a horrendous shot in the second innings, where the hosts were looking to bat out an entire day and eke out a draw.