Reddy credits Cummins, Morkel after successful outing with the ball at Lord’s

After a successful outing with the ball on the opening day of the Lord’s Test, where he got rid of both the English openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy credited Australia’s captain Pat Cummins and India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel for his success.

Reddy emerged the pick of the Indian bowlers on a day England preferred playing traditional Test cricket, keeping their ultra-aggressive Bazball approach aside on a two-paced wicket, and ended up with a score of 251/4 at stumps with Joe Root unbeaten on 99 and skipper Ben Stokes on 39.

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After being introduced in the 14th over of the England innings, he made an instant impact by removing Duckett and Crawley in his very first over, and went on to bowl nearly 14 overs through the day. He was able to generate more swing off the wicket than the frontline pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, and Mohammed Siraj.

During the post-day presser, Reddy revealed that prior to the ongoing tour, he sought suggestions from his Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Cummins on bowling in English conditions.

“After the Australia tour, I felt like I had to improve my bowling and my consistency. That’s what I looked about. And yeah, Pat is my captain, and he’s been brilliant in Australia, and I have asked him some tips, and he has been telling me how things would’ve been done in Australia, how I can go about it in Australia. And that’s a great experience for me, sharing with Pat Cummins,” Reddy said.

“I just asked Pat Cummins about the difference in bowling in Australia and England. This is my first tour. He said, ‘It’s not going to be a different change. You just watch the weather conditions and just play your game. Just try to learn as much as you can’,” he added.

Morne Morkel has been great: Reddy

Reddy also said that working with bowling coach Morkel has done wonders for him and that he is really enjoying working with the former South African speedster.

“Coming to this tour, I would say, working with Morne Morkel has been great for me. He’s working with me for a couple of weeks, and we are seeing good progress in my bowling, and I’m really enjoying working with him,” said Reddy.

Ahead of the Test series against England, Reddy played for India A against the England Lions and also participated in the intra-squad match.

Insisting on his focus to be consistent, Reddy said, “We’ve been working on my consistency a lot since I get a bit of swing both ways. I just want to be consistent in these areas. So we are working on that. I’ve been working hard on my bowling for one year or two years.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of hard work, but later on it is about understanding things and believing in myself. If you believe, that’s when your hard work comes on point. That’s what I’m realising now,” he added.

Eyeing a Lord’s century

Nitish, who scored a century at iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the Boxing Day Test during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia late last year, also spoke about his batting, and possibility of getting his name on the Lord’s honours board with a century. “I would be so happy if I get named on the board. Everyone will be looking for that opportunity, and I will do my best for that,” he said.