“He can learn by watching Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj”: India coach defends 22-year-old player after Test series vs WI

India head coach Gautam Gambhir was in no mood to take criticism over Nitish Kumar Reddy’s promotion in the batting order and no-show in the bowling department during the second Test against the West Indies in Delhi. The 22-year-old batted at the no. 5 spot and scored 43 runs off 54 balls, laced with 4 fours and 2 sixes. On the other hand, he was not given an over in both innings.

Former India players Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar were miffed with the move to send Nitish before Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar. They questioned the logic behind the call, saying that India shouldn’t have changed the batting order, considering the young player has batted lower down the order in his career so far. Former players were also surprised that Reddy was not used as a bowler.

“He is gaining experience,” Gambhir said. “It doesn’t matter how many overs he bowls. You can’t put the 23-year-old under pressure in overseas matches. We want to groom him as we need a seam bowling all-rounder. We have been talking about the need for a seam bowling all-rounder for decades, so we will have to prepare him for the betterment of the team,” Gambhir added.

“He can learn by just playing and watching Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah,” he concluded.