India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said they are looking to develop Nitish Kumar Reddy as an all-rounder. Reddy bowled only four overs in the first innings of the West Indies innings at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
But the right-hander didn’t get a chance to bat in the first innings as India declared at 448-5 after taking a mammoth lead of 286 runs.
“We think he’s a fantastic seam-bowling all-rounder, a batter that bowls seam,” Doeschate said in the press conference in Delhi. “I think the biggest sort of limitation to what his ceiling could be is going to be his body. He’s not the first all-rounder we’ve seen in this country. That applies to, let’s be perfectly honest, Hardik’sthe same sort of character of a player where we don’t doubt their skills at all. But for their bodies to hold up to play Test cricket is a different matter.
“Nitish has shown everyone in Australia just how good he is as a batter. And again, the challenge for him is going to be to make sure that he gets game time in between the away series.
“I think a series like this where you look at the combinations, it’s more important to look ahead and see how we can fit him in to make sure that he does get game time and the chance to develop his bowling. We think he’s a quality all-rounder.”
On the other hand, Sai Sudharsan was dismissed after scoring only seven runs and thus the pressure is piling on him. The left-hander has managed only 147 runs in four Test matches at an average of 21 but the Dutchman said they are not hitting the panic buttons for Sudharsan.
“I think he’s under no illusion, and you can’t hide away from the fact that you do fight for a spot in this environment,” ten Doeschate said of Sai. “You saw Karun Nair get four Test matches in England. There are a lot of good players about to get on the heels of whoever has possession of that spot.
“So, Sai just needs to focus on believing in himself. We’ve obviously got a lot of belief in him to give him that number three spot. He’s playing pretty nicely. Probably a tactical mistake the other day, which you’ll be aware of, playing back to a ball so early in the innings.
“And we just want him to go in there and just bat. We know he’s good enough and now he has to find a way of scoring runs and showing the rest of the country and the rest of the team that he’s good enough to hold that spot. But certainly, no panic or no worry. Particularly in a winning team, you can absorb that.”
The second Test match between India and the West Indies will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi from Friday.
