Vizag cricketer Nitish Reddy gets India call-up for T20I Zimbabwe tour; silences critics who taunted his father

Visakhapatnam: A 21-year-old player from Andhra Pradesh has been selected for the T20I series in Zimbabwe.

Nitish Kumar Reddy from Visakhapatnam will play for the BCCI's 18-man squad starting from July 6 in Harare. Shubman Gill will lead a new-look India side for the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.

Trained by the Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association (VDCA), Nitish Reddy started going to the camps at the age of nine, but when he was 12 his father, an employee of a central government enterprise, was transferred to Rajasthan as the division shifted from his city.

Nitish first hogged the headlines when he scored a triple-century for Andhra in the 2017-18 Vijay Merchant Trophy. It was followed by a 345-ball 441 against Nagaland. His 1237 runs at an average of 176.41 remained the record-highest tally in the tournament's history and earned him the BCCI's award for best U-16 cricketer that season.

As he developed his bowling as a seamer, he also took the new ball for Andhra in senior domestic cricket. His all-round skills caught the eye of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

Before the 2023 IPL season, SRH bought him for INR 20 lakh, but in his debut season, he bowled five wicketless overs across two games without getting to bat. However, in IPL 2024, his exploits earned SRH crucial victories in their run to the playoffs; his 64 against Punjab Kings helped SRH win by one run, while his unbeaten 76 against Delhi Capitals ensured a two-run win. The 21-year-old was awarded the title of 'Emerging Player' by the BCCI in the 2024 IPL season.

Dream to wear Jersey and play for India

The batting all-rounder opened up on his rollercoaster ride to the realm of cricket and how his relatives and peers criticized his father's move to quit his job so his son could succeed in his dreams.

"Getting into the Indian team is a proud feeling, but it is only 50 percent of the dream. It will be fulfilled if I can wear that jersey and win matches for my country. I want to see respect for my father in the eyes of those who once tore him to shreds for believing in my talent," he said to PTI.

"When we had to shift from Vizag, my father enquired and found out that the city we were supposed to live in wasn't great for the development of my game. He decided to quit after talking to my mom and got around Rs 20 lakh as the final payout and decided to start a money lending business. As luck would have it, some of his close friends duped him and he lost his entire earnings," Nitsh said.

"Everyone from every corner pounced on him for losing his earnings from service after quitting the job. On our part, relatives, and neighbors were never convinced that someone should quit his job to further his son's ambitions. I could hear those discussions, and even as a 12-13 year old, I understood everything. It was a promise I made to myself that only one thing can redeem my dad's prestige -- an India call-up," Nitish Reddy said while in conversation with PTI.

Relatives now praise my father

While bat sponsors do come once players make a name at least at the U-19 state level, the initial days after his father's business loss led to acute fund crunch.

"Would you believe that at start of my junior level competitive cricket, I had only one bat per season. It's not as costly as it is now but a good English willow would still cost a few grands. The wood would chip off the edge, cracks would appear at the sweet spot. I would tape the areas and carry on," the pain was palpable in his voice.

So after his 303 runs at a strike-rate of 142 along with three wickets in this year's campaign for SRH, things have changed.

"The relatives and neighbours, who back then were critical, now want us to come to their place and praise my father for taking such a risk," he laughs.

T20I series squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.