Father’s Sacrifice, ‘Virat Kohli’ Dream and CSK Net Bowler: Know everything about Nitish Kumar Reddy

As Nitish Kumar Reddy completed a stunning first Test ton in his fourth Test in front of a packed crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), images of his father Mutyala Reddy won the tears and joy of cricket fans around the world. Reddy’s journey has been long, filled with great sacrifices from his father. But from having to watch his father sacrifice his job to support his career, to getting his Test cap from his idol Virat Kohli, to hitting his maiden Test century, it has been a remarkable journey for Nitish Reddy.

Mutyala Reddy’s role in Nitish’s career has been instrumental. The senior Reddy gave up a stable job and endured financial problems just to support his son’s blossoming cricket career.

As his childhood coach Kumar Swamy says Indian Express“Everyone wants to be a hero in their cinema, but when it comes to Nitish’s story, Mutyala is the hero.”

Mutyala never gave up on her son’s dreams, reports The Indian Express. Even when he was informed that Nitish was not good enough for district level cricket, his father persisted and only helped Nitish to improve. At the age of 16, after smashing more than 1,200 runs in the Vijay Merchant Trophy, dreams of playing for India and stabilizing his family situation began to seriously become a goal for Nitish.

“To be honest, I wasn’t that serious when I was young. My father left his job for me. There have been lots of sacrifices in my history. One day I saw him crying because of financial problems he had and it felt like I had to do the hard work,” Reddy had told BCCI.TV.

“Your father made this sacrifice and you just enjoy cricket by playing it for fun. So at that time I took it seriously and suddenly in one year I got the growth, did the hard work and it paid off,” added Reddy .

Young Nitish also had another dream – to play alongside his idol, Virat Kohli.

“When I was young, I would calculate my age to see if I could play for India while Virat Kohli is still playing,” Reddy told BCCI.TV.

It turned out that the dream came true. Kohli presented the 21-year-old Nitish with his first Test cap in the first Test of the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. At such a young age, his rare skill – a fast-bowling all-rounder – saw him break into the XI. “I am preparing myself for the role of Hardik Pandya,” he told NDTV in July.

A lesser known fact about Nitish is that he was a net bowler in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2021. But it was in Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2023 that Nitish really made it big. With input from the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nitish’s bowling continued to improve.

SRH saw Nitish go from prodigy to superstar in a matter of months and then again it was his father who advised him to stick with SRH and not chase millions in IPL.

From a 13-year-old seemingly unfit to play district cricket to a centurion at ‘G’, it’s been a crazy ride for Nitish Reddy.