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For 189 deliveries, a promising cricketer locked horns against a great attack, fought with his inner demons, and eventually ended up as the shining light at the colosseum of MCG in the Boxing Day Test. It turns out to be the one evocative memory of Nitish Kumar Reddy that millions of Indian cricket fans would carry forward for generations. But his detractors could very well argue with the following line: what has Nitish done while facing the rest of his 502 offerings in Test cricket? And that point could be extended to the shorter formats of the game as well.
At the moment, there is no fitting riposte to the hard numbers on display. However, sometimes, to locate the answer, one has to peel the outside layers of the black box. And that is where you unearth the name, ‘Project Nitish Reddy.’ Unfortunately, India have a dearth of quality pace-bowling all-rounders. Hardik Pandya, the experienced campaigner, has filled that role with distinction in limited-overs cricket. Just that, at the age of 32, Hardik isn’t getting any younger, and he has been increasingly troubled by soft tissue injuries.
Meanwhile, from the ‘Project Nitish’ point of view, the speedgun flashing speeds in the range of mid 130s to low 140s in the 2026 IPL would have boosted the confidence of not just the all-rounder but also the Indian think-tank. Incidentally, just before that tournament, the all-rounder tweaked a few parts of his biomechanics with the help of the renowned fast-bowling coach Steffan Jones.
Nitish bowling at higher speeds could give him a flicker of hope of surviving in the abridged versions of the game. With Nitish having the traits to move the ball, there is also a small window for the Indian management to try him as a new-ball bowler in the Afghanistan ODIs.
In an imaginary debate, Nitish’s detractors could throw out one more rebuttal: Hardik Pandya extracts a little more bounce from a slightly fuller length and possesses the required variations. There is a surrebuttal too: the ‘Project Nitish’ needs to be painted with different colours on a large canvas. In a nutshell, Nitish’s skills would improve only by bowling more overs. And a rather low-key series versus Afghanistan might act as the right kind of laboratory to test the hypothesis.
India have important assignments ahead of them, including the Test series in New Zealand and the 50-over World Cup next year. The Indian backroom staff would still bank on Hardik’s fitness for the World Cup.
The skeptics, however, would point out the long list of injuries suffered by the all-rounder. And that is where the Afghanistan series could prove to be the missing road for Nitish to reach his destined destination. Despite the cacophony of sounds from his critics, Nitish’s one and only mantra for the moment would be – never quit on your dreams.
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