Promising India all-rounder Nitish Reddy, who made a splash with both bat and ball in only his second T20I, on Wednesday credited the team for giving him the licence to play fearless cricket. The 21-year-old Andhra man smashed a 34-ball 74 to help India post an imposing 221/9 in the second T20I against Bangladesh in New Delhi.
Later he shone with the ball with his medium-pace bowling and claimed 2/23 as Bangladesh were restricted to 135/9. India thus took an unassailable 2-0 lead going into the final T20I in Hyderabad on October 12.
"It feels great to represent India, feel so proud about this moment. Grateful for everything. I should give credit to captain and coach. They gave me the licence to play fearless cricket," Reddy said at the post-match interaction.
Reddy got two reprieves early on but grew in confidence after hitting a six off a free-hit thanks to a no-ball by Mahmudullah.
"I took my time initially, but after that no-ball everything went in my favour. It feels great to play for the Indian team. I want to continue in this same way. Want to keep repeat such good performances."
India got off to a jittery start and were reeling at 41/3 inside power-play and skipper Suryakumar Yadav said it helped them test their middle-order batters. "I wanted that situation, wanted my batters (5,6,7) in that situation. Happy for both (Rinku Singh and Nitish) of them," Yadav said on the 108-run fourth wicket partnership between Rinku (53) and Nitish.
"They batted exactly the way I wanted. You got to go out there and express. The message has been loud and clear - do what you do in the nets, and franchises. Just the jersey changes, rest remaining remains the same. I wanted to see what different bowlers can do in different situations. Can they give me the difficult overs. Sometimes Hardik won't bowl, sometimes Washington Sundar won't bowl. I wanted to see what the other guys had in store, really happy with it. It was his (Nitish) day, I thought let him enjoy and make it large."
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