Kolkata: Nitish Kumar Reddy being ruled out of three T20Is in Australia raises a pertinent question: do fast bowling allrounders need to be more aware of their limitations and choose formats accordingly? Only 22, Reddy ideally shouldn’t have figured on India’s injury watch so early into his career.
Since his Perth Test debut in 2023-24 however, Reddy has played only 15 internationals for India, missing the last two Tests in England with a knee injury and then hurting his quadriceps during the ODI series in Australia. He is now ruled out due to neck spasm, adding up to a serious time away from cricket due to injury related issues.
It’s no secret India have been for a long time seeking a fast bowling allrounder who could feature in all formats. Hardik Pandya nearly fulfilled that criterion before his back gave away, forcing him to choose white ball cricket, his last Test coming in 2018 against England. But even he is unavailable right now, recovering from a quadriceps injury. Shardul Thakur has been considered frequently, and has game-changing contributions with the bat in some landmark Test wins, but his bowling successes have been too few and far in between.
That leaves Shivam Dube, who operated the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah in the Asia Cup final and is shaping up to be quite an allround asset. The pace isn’t much though, and he has already missed the opening round of the Ranji Trophy with back stiffness, so the team management must be already on guard. Dube, however, isn’t a viable red-ball option, unlike Reddy who bowls seam at proper medium pace, doubling India’s allrounder conundrum.
That India probably had an idea of the trouble they might face with Reddy was evident from how assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate alluded to his physical limitations after the Delhi Test against West Indies earlier this month.
“I think the biggest limitation to what his ceiling could be is going to be his body,” he had said. “He is not the first allrounder we’ve seen in this country whom that applies to. To be perfectly honest, Hardik is the same sort of a player where we don’t doubt their skills at all but for their bodies to hold up to Test cricket is a different matter.”
That India want Reddy to play all three formats was clear with the way the selections went in his favour this month. But at the same time, the logic behind making him play both the Tests against West Indies where his role was really limited, wasn’t coherent. Ten Doeschate reasoned Reddy was given longer game time so that he could be honed in that role.
“We didn’t get a very good look at Nitish last week, so I think it’s a very good opportunity to give Nitish another go and not alter the balance of the team,” he said at the time.
But that reasoning doesn’t feel strong enough in hindsight, especially when India are in dire need of an allrounder like Reddy in Australia. The incentive to become a genuine allrounder these days is anyway negligent, even more so in Test cricket where only the best like Ben Stokes survive, that too after nearly giving up on white-ball cricket.
So the sooner Reddy understands his body and the format he is most comfortable with, the better are his chances of charting a long career.
