Young Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy was part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in the IPL 2024, and the 21-year-old star impressed with his performance in the cash-rich league this year. In 13 matches of IPL 2024, the right-handed batter scored 303 runs and also picked up three wickets with his medium-paced bowling. For his brilliant performance with the bat and ball in this year’s IPL, the youngster won the Emerging Player of the Year award and also earned his maiden India call-up.
He was included in India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, but due to injury, he missed the overseas assignment, which India won by a margin of 4-1 under Shubman Gill’s leadership.
Nitish, who is just 21 years old, has a bright future ahead of him. The youngster is most likely to be retained by SRH ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. But during a recent interaction with ESPNCricinfo, the youngster surprised everyone by revealing that his favourite IPL franchise is not SRH but Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
According to him, he has been a huge RCB fan for the last 10 years, and batting superstar Virat Kohli and former South African captain Ab de Villiers are his batting idols. Kohli has been associated with RCB since the start of the IPL in 2008, and Ab de Villiers played for the franchise from 2011 to 2021.
“I really admire Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. I’ve been a huge fan of RCB for the last 10 years. In 2023, I had the chance to meet Virat Kohli. I didn’t have much to ask him; I just wanted to shake his hand and get his autograph. In 2024, I was hoping to play well against RCB so that Virat Kohli would notice my game. Though I didn’t get to bat in that match, he remembered my name during the post-match handshake. That meant a lot to me,” the youngster said.
Reddy, who is a medium-pace bowling all-rounder, also revealed that Indian star Hardik Pandya and England’s Test captain Ben Stokes are his inspirations for being an all-rounder and said that during IPL 2024 he received a message from Pandya in which the 30-year-old praised his intent and energy on the field.
“Hardik Bhai sent me a message saying the intent and energy I was giving on the field were good and to keep respecting the game. He said we would talk soon. I was shocked to see his message after the IPL season, especially since he was busy with World Cup duties. Hardik Pandya and Ben Stokes are my inspirations for being an all-rounder. I replied, thanking him for his message.”
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