File photo of Nitish Reddy.© BCCI
All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy become the fourth-youngest Indian player to hit their maiden half-century in T20Is and impressed heavily against spin during the second T20I against Bangladesh at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday. In only his second T20I, Nitish scored a brilliant 74 in just 34 balls, with four fours and seven sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 217.65. At the age of 21 years and 136 days, Nitish became the fourth-youngest to hit a maiden T20I fifty for India. Current Indian skipper in Tests and ODI, Rohit Sharma was the youngest to hit the maiden T20I fifty by an Indian player at the age of 20 years and 143 days against South Africa in 2007 during the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup.
Nitish accelarated his knock well, playing at 13 in 13 balls, with one four. In the next 21 balls, he smashed 61 balls, with three boundaries and seven sixes.
The young all-rounder was particularly impressive against spin, scoring 53 in 19 balls against spin. Among Indian batters to have faced more than 10 balls of spin in a T20I innings, Nitish Reddy's SR of 278.94 (53 off 19) is only bettered by Ruturaj Gaikwad's 305.55 vs Australia in Guwahati in 2023 (55 off 18 balls). Nitish hit a four and all of his seven sixes against spin.
Alongside Gaikwad, Nitish also joined the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli in the list of Indian batters with most runs in an innings against spin in T20Is.
Abhishek Sharma tops the list with 65-run knock vs Zimbabwe in Harare in 2024, while Yuvraj Singh follows him with 57 against Pakistan in Ahmedabad 2012.
With 55 runs against Australia in Guwahati in 2023, Ruturaj Gaikwad is third in the list while Virat Kohli is next with 54-run knock against Afghanistan in Dubai in 2022.
Then comes Nitish Reddy with his most recent 53-run innings vs Bangladesh in New Delhi.
Notably, Nitish is also the first Indian to score 70 runs and take two wickets in a T20I match.
Coming to the match, a fine all-round performance from Team India, particularly Nitish Kumar Reddy, helped the Men in Blue secure an 86-run win over Bangladesh in the second T20I at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday. India have sealed the three-match series 2-0.
(With ANI Inputs)