India's Nitish Kumar Reddy bowls a delivery during an ODI against Afghanistan in Dharamsala. | Photo Credit: PTI

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s recent work on his bowling action and run-up has paid dividends, and that improvement was visible in India’s ODI series opener against Afghanistan.

Having worked with England-based coach Steffan Jones ahead of the IPL, Reddy has emerged as a much improved bowler -- both on the pace and accuracy front.

India’s leading all-rounder Hardik Pandya is injury-prone, and therefore, the team management is grooming Reddy for life after Hardik with an eye on the 2027 ODI World Cup.

There was never any doubt over Reddy’s batting, and now he is also delivering with the ball. In the rain-hit ODI on Saturday, the Vizag-born cricketer got rid of a rampaging Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a fine yorker.

Unlike the IPL, international cricket also allowed him to settle scores against Gurbaz, who smashed the Indian all-rounder for a six off his first ball.

Talking about the use of the yorker, Reddy said he uses the ball as both an attacking and defensive option. Gurbaz was in menacing touch, and someone had to stop him.

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“I would say because I was expecting this situation to come at any point – I was not expecting it in ODIs but at least in T20s like the IPL and all, because as an impact player I was not able to complete four overs, I would say. Some matches I was able to bowl two overs, but there will be some matches where I’ll be bowling four overs, so I was preparing myself.

“...I shouldn’t be clueless when the captain gives me the ball; I have to have some plan. So, if it’s not regular bowling in matches, at least I would do my stuff in practice so that I’ll be ready at the right time,” he said.

The 23-year-old also briefly paused the press conference to take a call from his mother. Excusing himself, he answered the phone and politely asked her to wait five minutes while he finished speaking to reporters.

Impact Player rule doesn’t encourage comebacks as a bowler

Reddy bowled four overs in different stages of the rain-hit game against Afghanistan, but in the IPL, he did not get to regularly bowl his full quota. He too joined a bunch of players in criticising the Impact Player concept in the IPL.

“For all-rounders, yeah, it is a little bit difficult because we always expect we’ll get four overs.

“... You can come back, and you can give effort again... It used to be like that, but now if you bowl one or two bad overs, maybe that’s the end of your tournament.

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“For some all-rounders or bowlers, I would say when there is a chance for a comeback, like after one over, you have to come back and show yourself; that’s where a player's mindset is determined, and that’s when a comeback says everything.

“I believe bowlers should get four overs and all-rounders should get four overs; at least they need to get that experience,” said Reddy.

Reddy on technical changes to his bowling and how he remains a work in progress

Reddy has considerably improved on his pace and accuracy of late, but by his own admission, he remains a work in progress.

“I figured out that I’m a front-on bowler and worked on the stride lengths. I wanted to go much more quickly on the run-up. So, it changed a little bit in my bowling action. It’s coming good now, and hopefully there are some more improvements which I have to do, and hopefully I’ll do those in the coming days.”

On the work done with Jones, he added: “It’s just seven days that I have worked with him. We haven’t done a lot of work, but it’s just basically what we want to achieve in the coming days.

“That’s what we have discussed, and we have worked on that, and I have learnt some points where I need to change a little bit in my specific bowling, so we’re working on it.”

Published on Jun 14, 2026