India debutant reveals how coach Gambhir’s advice powered him against Australia

When he arrived to bat in the middle, with India struggling at 73/6, Nitish Kumar Reddy faced a stern Test in his first Test innings for India.

The Australian pacers were on top, and the runs were hard to come by, but the young all-rounder stayed persistent and compiled 41 runs off just 59 deliveries to help India get to 150. An innings that eventually helped put India in the driving seat, leading by 83 runs at Stumps on Day 1, with Australia only having three wickets left in their innings.

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“It wasn’t a dream innings but it was a good start,” Reddy said at the end of the day’s play.

What aided the 21-year-old put on a brave display on a happening surface was the pre-match advice from the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir.

He shared, “I had heard a lot about Perth. I still remember the last practice that we had. After that, I had a chat with Gautam sir. He was mentioning, when you get any bouncers or something like that…sharp spells, you just take them on your shoulders. Just feel like you’re taking a bullet for your country.

“That just boosted me up. Somehow we had it in the back of our minds. Everyone was talking about good bounce in this wicket. He said that thing and I felt like, ‘You need to take bullets for your country.’ That’s the best thing I’ve heard from Gautam sir.”

A visible component of the debutant’s innings was his counter-attack against spin veteran Nathan Lyon, whom he dispatched for four fours during his stay.

Speaking on the advantage he held in the match-up, Reddy explained, “I felt it was a pretty good wicket for the fast bowlers and it is hard to make runs on. When Nathan Lyon was bowling, I saw two-three balls, there was no drift. So I felt you could take him on. If we get a few quick runs, that’ll help our scoreboard.”

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Another memorable highlight on his first outing for India was when he received his maiden Test cap from his longtime idol.

“I always dreamt of playing for Indian cricket (team). And it was a fantastic moment. To receive it (debut cap) from Virat bhai. He’s been my idol since I started playing cricket. Getting the cap from him was a happy moment for me,” Reddy added.

Bumrah sparks comeback

After India were bowled out for 150, stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah would inspire a comeback for the visitors as he ran through the Australian top order, snapping four wickets on the day.

Reddy, praising Bumrah for his astute captaincy, said, “He’s very good. It’s my first Test game playing under Bumrah. It’s pretty hard to mention about his captaincy but as of now he’s been very good. Like the change of spells, I saw, he’s very good.”

The 30-year-old also received high praise from Australia’s pacer Mitchell Starc.

"There's no surprise that he's been a fantastic bowler across the formats for a long time. And again, his skills were on show today as to how, how good he is,” Starc said.

“So, yeah, I'm sure there's something in that release point. That’s significant to his action. It's something a lot of people can't do, so I'm not, I'm certainly not going to go and try it, I’ll probably snap," he added.