"One day, I saw him crying because of financial problems we were facing" - Nitish Reddy on what motivated him to take cricket seriously
Team India all-rounder Nitish Reddy recently spoke about his cricketing journey, saying that watching his father's financial struggle motivated him to take cricket seriously. He made the comments ahead of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test, which will be a day-night affair in Adelaide, starting Friday, December 6
The 21-year-old hails from a humble family in Andhra and faced many economic problems growing up. Reddy revealed that he wasn't serious about cricket until one day he saw his father cry to make ends meet financially. His father sacrificed his job to make his son a cricketer.
In a video shared by the bcci.tv, Nitish Reddy threw light on his cricketing journey, saying:
"To be honest, I was not serious when I was young. My father left his job for me and there has been a lot of sacrifice behind my story.
"One day, I saw him crying because of financial problems we were facing and I was like this is not how you can be that my father made the sacrifices and you play cricket just for fun. At that time, I became serious and I got the growth, I worked hard and it paid off."
"Everyone said, 'Mutyala Reddy, you made your son go this far'. As a son of a middle-class family, I am so proud that my father is so happy now and I gave my first jersey to him, where I saw happiness in his face and felt immensely proud," Reddydadded.
Nitish Reddy was initially spotted by former Indian selector MSK Prasad who asked him to train at the Andhra cricket facility. He first grabbed headlines when he smashed 441 runs off just 345 balls against Mizoram in the 2016-17 Vijay Merchant Trophy.
Owing to his stellar performances in IPL 2024 for the SunRisers Hyderabad, Reddy was picked for India's T20I series against Bangladesh. He scored 90 runs in three games at an average of 45 and also picked up three wickets.
"If I face any problem regarding anything, I just go and talk to KL bhai" - Nitish Reddy
The Andhra all-rounder further spoke about turning to senior batter KL Rahul in the Indian dressing room for any advice. He also shared speaking to the wicketkeeper-batter helped him calm his nerves in the debut Test.
"I was a bit nervous at first on how I will interact with players, who I have seen on TV while growing up," Nitish Reddy continued. "If I face any problem regarding anything, I just want to go and talk to KL bhai. I somehow feel that good vibes from him like whatever suggestion he gives it works for me."
"He said ‘Macha when you are going to the center, you feel everything is going so fast, don’t go so fast, slow down the game because my first match went in my way. I went there and everything happened in a few seconds, I didn’t know what to do.' That really helped me and before going to bat, he gave me suggestions," he concluded.
Nitish Reddy had a dream debut, chipping with contributions with the bat in both innings. He was India's highest scorer in the first innings where the team got bundled out for 150, scoring 41 off 59 balls. He also chipped in with a quickfire 38* off 27 balls in the second innings, sharing an important partnership with Virat Kohli.
The visiting side secured a 295-run victory in the first Test to go 1-0 up in the five-match series. Reddy will hope to continue the good work and lead the Men in Blue to another victory at the Adelaide Oval.