India Are Looking To Invest In Nitish Reddy And Develop Him: Assistant Coach Ten Doeschate

There was a rather rare occurrence in the first Test between India and West Indies in Ahmedabad last week as team India fielded a seam bowling all-rounder in the form of Nitish Reddy, something that’s almost unprecedented, looking at trends from the last two decades. 

Nitish was only required to bowl 4 overs in the entire match and he did not bat — as India declared after losing 5 wickets — and so his lack of involvement in the contest made many speculate that the all-rounder might be left out of the second Test.

However, ahead of the second game, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate made it clear that Nitish will definitely play regularly going forward, even at home, since he’s someone they are looking to invest in and develop.

“One of the sort of medium-term objectives is to develop a seam-bowling allrounder for India, because it's very important when we go away on tours that we have that position covered,” ten Doeschate said, reported ESPNCricinfo.

"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.

"Nitish, I think he showed everyone in Australia how good he is as a batter; I think the challenge for him is going to be to make sure that he gets game time in between away series. 

“In a series like this, when you look at the combination, it's more important to look ahead and see how we can fit him in to make sure that he does get game time and time to develop his bowling. We really like him, we think he's a quality all-rounder."

Ten Doeschate opined that the 22-year-old’s biggest challenge will be to ensure that his body holds up. Notably, Nitish missed the last two Tests of the England tour due to a knee injury.

"We think he's a fantastic seam-bowling allrounder, a batter who bowls seam," ten Doeschate said. 

"I think the biggest limitation to what his ceiling could be is going to be his body. He is not the first allrounder we've seen in this country whom that applies to; to be perfectly honest, Hardik [Pandya]'s in the same sort of character of player where we don't doubt their skills at all but for their bodies to hold up to Test cricket is a different matter.”

The Ahmedabad Test was Nitish’s first Test at home. So far in 8 Tests, he averages 28.58 and has taken 8 wickets at an average of 39.62.