How standing inside the crease has worked for Nitish Reddy on bouncy Australian tracks | Cricket News

During India’s last tour of Australia in 2021, the Indian and Australian broadcasters ran a show before the series, a chat between Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. At one point, Kohli talks about the player who Australian fans should watch out for and he picks Hanuma Vihari. As it turned out, on a hobbling leg, Vihari would play a match-saving knock, along with R Ashwin at Sydney that meant a lot in terms of that series.In Perth now in 2024, on match eve, the Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah was asked about how nice it is to have a medium pace allrounder in his side. Bumrah misunderstood that question and thinking it was asked about him, he would jest: “I can bowl fast, not a medium pacer!”
When he was corrected that it was Nitish Kumar Reddy who was being talked about, Bumrah would choose to speak about all youngsters in the team: “They’re very talented and confident. You must have seen them in the IPL. They have a lot of belief in their game. This is for all the youngsters in our team at this moment. When you talk to them, they don’t look confused or overawed. They have a lot of belief in their ability.” It was interesting to hear him praise the way he did.
India’s Nitish Kumar Reddy hits a six during the day one of the second cricket test match between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/James Els)
All that he said holds of course, but now two Tests into the series there is no need to club Nitish Reddy with the rest of the new kids on the block. Nitish has already individuated himself in that crowd, making not just Indian fans but also the Australians talk him up. Former dogged Australian middle-order batsman-turned opener Simon Katich was on the air on SEN radio the other day at Adelaide when Nitish walked down the track for his first ball, and would later, unfurl some audacious shots like the reverse-lap and upper cuts. “I can easily see him bat at No.6 for India for years to come, and allow them to play three spinners even at home. The balance he offers the team is going to be immense. And I won’t be surprised if he even moves up the batting order.”
Nitish’s tour had started rather interestingly. In Perth, at the old WACA where the Indians began the tour with a two-day intra-squad tour amongst themselves, he didn’t bat on the first day. Slotted in the ‘bowling unit’ he bowled. The next day he batted, though he nicked off fairly early in the piece, but his team-mates had noticed something about him. Those present at the venue recall scenes from the training at the nets the next day. The likes of Gautam Gambhir, KL Rahul, and R Ashwin would spend a lot of time chatting with him in training. In the days to come Virat Kohli would also do the same. Even before the Perth Test, it was clear that he would feature in the playing XI for that first game.
Still, there might have been some doubts, if not in him, at least in the others, even within the team. But he dispelled them, top scoring in the first innings at Perth, proving the difference between India getting bowled out under 100 and getting 150 as they did eventually. He has batted in similar fashion, looking competent as if he has been meant to do this all along. Fox Sports would even show a split frame of his bowling action along with the great Dennis Lillee for plausible action similarities, especially in the way the left leg raises in the delivery stride, and while his bowling is clearly a work in progress, his batting has startled quite a few.
And what’s astonishing about it is that he has done it in his own way. Nearly all the rest of the batsman, barring Washington Sundar but he isn’t in the top order, have been trying to stand outside the crease, or conventionally with one foot out like Rahul has. Nothing wrong with those approaches, but this is just to highlight how Nitish has had the confidence to do it his way.
Standing inside the crease
He stands inside the crease, almost, and leaning forward a touch in his stance. From that position, it’s clear that even good-length balls are going to bounce a touch high, especially on Australian pitches. That he will have to play even those deliveries on the up. And the back-of-length deliveries are going to jump at him even more. In contrast, say, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant stand outside the crease. Rohit Sharma has his back leg cutting the popping crease. Nitish has chosen to go his own way rather than trying to ape the stars. It’s that kind of innate confidence that has perhaps allowed him to flourish. Not where his legs are in the crease – that’s not the point – but how he has been unfazed to do it his way.
Pat Cummins and Scott Boland in particular could in theory test that technique. Mitch Starc too has his inswingers that would curl in that bit more, but that can’t be such a bad thing as Nitish wouldn’t be surprised the nature of the deviation itself – as opposed to others who have inched forward and got startled the in-swing. Not easy, still, as the ball would shape in that bit more where Nitish stands but he obviously has the wherewithal to manage that. And he forces Starc to bowl that much fuller as well.
With Cummins and Boland who like to hit the good length and back of lengths, the bounce becomes a bigger factor to handle from the position Nitish has already retreated to before the ball is released. But he has shown he has the goods to handle it. He likes to punch the ball on the up, and from where he is, he doesn’t quite have to move too much back to try getting on top of the bounce. The short of length stuff can be handled with that technique, even if it’s somewhat alien to a batsmen bred on Indian tracks in childhood. But the good-length deliveries can jump with more venom than to the others. That’s why the Kohli’s of the world are getting forward; trying to suck out the potential movement and bounce that makes the ball in Australia hit the top splice of the bat, the later a batsman meets the ball. It’s not that Kohli or Rohit don’t know that this is not England, they don’t have to stand outside the crease to negate the swing in the air; they don’t have to try to meet the ball before it swings a lot. They want to counter the bounce, before the ball reaches its potential zenith in its trajectory after landing.

But Nitish doesn’t mind the bouncing ball. In attacking moods, he has the shots like the upper-cut and the lap to do damage. But even the most attacking of batsmen don’t play those shots every ball. It would then come down to how comfortable a batsman is in tackling the bounce. How high he doesn’t mind it bouncing before he meets it. Nitish is one of the rare Indians who doesn’t mind the ball rearing up from even a length. Rather he allows it to do it, before he punches. It’s an interesting approach, a touch uncommon, but worth savouring and tracking.
Whether that can become the blueprint for success remains to be seen. Probably, not for most. But Nitish has decided that’s his method. Often he stands on his toes, punching, tapping, raising his hands higher but staying behind the crease seems to give him the confidence. He is not surprised any ‘late’ movement, he knows what the ball is doing and where it’s headed. But it’s not an easy art. The bounce creates problems in timing, especially when many Indian batsmen don’t quite possess the horizontal cut shot (picture Adam Gilchr’s flashing blade). Even Nitish hasn’t unfurled that kind of a cut, at least not yet. But he seems to have the trust in his method that he can do it. His scores and demeanour so far has suggested he will continue to trust. The Australian bowlers, no doubt, will now come with plans to tackle that approach. Brisbane, and the other Tests, will now test Nitish’s self-confidence in his method. It’s going to be fascinating to see how he tackles it.