Murali Vijay hails 'cool and calm' Nitish Kumar Reddy after impressive Test debut
Former India cricketer Murali Vijay hailed young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy for his impressive Test debut on Day 1 of the first Test against Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Notably, Nitish walked in to bat after India were left reeling at 73/6 after stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and opted to bat first.
However, the 21-year-old showed no qualms whatsoever as he got involved in a crucial 48-run stand with Rishabh Pant (37). Nitish went on to top score for India with his knock of 41 (59) with the help of six fours and a six. Courtesy of his innings, India managed to cross the 100-run mark as they were bundled out for 150 in 49.4 overs.
Following his impressive Test debut, Nitish was praised by Vijay who hailed the youngster for his cool and calm mindset which allowed him to bat freely at the crease.
“You can see he showed a lot of calmness for the first match in in his life playing for playing for the country, no nerves at all. I couldn’t see anything. He was was spot on, his footwork was fantastic to watch, and he maintained good, calmness inside the crease. That’s what it is all about playing at the highest level. You got to maintain your cool maintain your relaxed mindset to perform at that level. If you get tightened up, the body won’t allow you to play the shots what you’re thinking about, what Matthew Hayden was talking about, playing the attacking cricket,” said Vijay on Star Sports.
Further speaking ahead, Vijay highlighted how things start falling into one’s favour if he approaches the innings with a strong mindset.
“When you play attacking cricket, you tend to get into the right positions all the time and unsurprising. The bowlers miss out on their lengths. So a lot of things happen when you have the strong mindset. But when you don’t have that, you’ve got to back your back, your defence a lot When you have a good defensive approach you can have that defensive approach and still score runs by playing cricketing shots. So, it’s all in the mindset and how people approach the next innings,” he added.
AUS vs IND 1st Test Day 1 Highlights
Meanwhile, India’s stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah was in full flow with the ball as he scalped four wickets in the day finishing with figures of 4/17 in ten overs. Bumrah got the prized scalps of Usman Khawaja (8), Smith, Marnus Labuschagne (2) and debutant Nathan McSweeney (10). Apart from him, Mohammed Siraj (2/17) also chipped in with two wickets as Australia finished the day on 67/7 in reply to India’s 150 in the first innings trailing by 83 runs.
