Bounce in his step

Nitish Kumar Reddy conceded that the reputation of Perth being a fast bowler’s paradise made him a tad nervous ahead of his Test debut against Australia but the jitters vanished when he recalled head coach Gautam Gambhir’s advice — face the bouncers as if “you are taking a bullet for the country”. Nitish made an impressive 41 off 59 balls that lent a semblance of respectability to India’s overall poor batting effort.

“I heard a lot about the Perth wicket. There was a bit of nervousness. It was in the back of my mind that everyone was talking about the bounce on Perth wicket. But then I remembered the chat I had with Gautam sir after our last practice session,” Nitish said. “He was mentioning that ‘when you get a bouncer, take it on your shoulder... like taking a bullet for your country’. That just boosted me. When he said that I felt that I needed to take the bullet for the country. That’s the best thing I have heard from Gautam sir,” he added.

The 21-year-old revealed that he was told about the debut a day ahead of the first Test, but gathered himself with a quiet dinner and an evening round of cycling.

“We got to know (him and pacer Harshit Rana) about our debut just one day ago, and we were excited. We were having dinner and we were keeping calm. We did not want to take too much pressure. We had a cycle ride as well last evening, so that was good,” he said.

Nitish was delightfully surprised when star batter and his idol, Virat Kohli, handed him the Test cap in the morning. “It was a great feeling (getting a cap from Kohli). I have always dreamed about playing for India and it was a fantastic moment. Virat bhai is my idol when I started playing cricket. So getting the cap from him was a happy moment for me,” he said.

Nitish was realistic about the beginning he made in Test cricket, and admitted that playing for India A at Melbourne recently helped him understand the Australian conditions.

“It was a good start, not a dream innings but a good start. To be honest, the India A series helped me a lot because it was my first time to Australia,” he said.