India bowling coach Morne Morkel has stressed the importance of managing Nitish Kumar Reddy carefully as the young all-rounder prepares for his return from injury. Reddy remains a reliable performer for India with both bat and ball, and Morkel believes he has the skills to make a massive contribution in multiple departments. However, Morkel feels that giving Reddy a clearly defined role and enough opportunities will be crucial to his development.
"I think, Nitish, if we 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 who wants to create opportunities, and having that mindset is fantastic,” Morne Morkel said at the press conference.
“But I think the role that we want him to play in certain situations is: how can we ask him to be as consistent; how well can he 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."
Reddy recently made his comeback after recovering from a quadriceps injury that had kept him on the sidelines. After struggling a bit, he found his mojo back with the ball during India's T20I series against Afghanistan in New Delhi. He claimed six wickets across the second and third T20Is. He was also withdrawn from India's men's T20I squad for the Asian Games and was added to India’s ODI squad for the upcoming series against the West Indies. Morkel also asserted that Reddy possesses skills to compete for an all-rounder's spot.
"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 do for the team."