India bowling coach Morne Morkel is quite sure that fast-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has the wherewithal to serve India across formats. India have long been looking to develop an all-rounder in the league of Hardik Pandya, who is heavily injury-prone despite having only played T20s in the last several months. In his short career Reddy, who scored a Test ton in Australia in the 2024-25 series, has had his share of injuries and has missed quite a few matches already. But now he is back in the Indian squad to face the West Indies, with the first ODI kicking off on Sunday in Kerala.
Morkel spoke to the media in the lead-up to the game, and he thinks Reddy can do it. However, he wants him to take one step at a time in the simplest way possible. If you try to interpret Morkel’s words, he appears to be saying: Not full 10 overs, just bowl a few overs and contribute with the bat a little, not like a full-fledged batsman but like an allrounder, a nice cameo. And perform consistently.
The 2027 World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia starts in October, and India have a lot of time to nurture the Andhra player and prepare him for the tough challenge. Morkel is hopeful. “I think Nitesh, if we look at, just rewind to the T20s, the way he bowled in different situations has been very impressive. The message to him all the time is just to keep things simple and do the basics as well as possible. I think he’s a very talented guy when it comes to bat, ball, and field.
“He always wants to be the guy that wants to create opportunities, and having that mindset is fantastic. But I think the role that we want him to play in certain situations is how we can ask him to be as consistent, how well he can fulfil just doing the basics as best as possible. I think that is another thing where we need to give him those opportunities to learn and grow.
“Luckily, we do have a bit of time now, and it will be great for Indian cricket if we can keep on developing him and for him to compete for that all-rounder spot. He’s got all the talent and all the ability to do that, but for us it’s just important to manage him quite well, to give him quite a simple role in terms of what he needs to go and do for the team,” the former South African fast bowler said on Friday.
The 23-year-old Reddy recently played against Afghanistan in the three-T20I series, and after going wicketless in the first game, he picked up six wickets in the next two. Morkel’s words should encourage him a lot. It’s clear that for now, he is being prepared to replace Pandya if the need arises.
