Need To Manage Nitish Well To Groom Him As An All-rounder, Says India Bowling Coach Morkel

Need to manage Nitish well to groom him as an all-rounder, says India bowling coach Morkel (New Delhi: India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I)

Nitish Kumar Reddy: India bowling coach Morne Morkel on Friday highlighted the need to manage young seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy with care, saying he possesses all the requisite attributes to excel across departments if given a clear role and consistent opportunities.

Reddy bounced back strongly from a recent quadriceps injury layoff by picking up six wickets in second and third T20Is against Afghanistan in New Delhi earlier this month. After looking slightly rusty in his comeback game on September 13, Reddy quickly found his bowling rhythm in the subsequent matches, though he is yet to make an impact with the bat.

Reddy was then pulled out of the Asian Games men’s T20 squad with an aim to give him crucial game time in the ODI series against the West Indies starting on Sunday.

"I think with 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 in the field.

"He always wants to be the guy who wants to create opportunities, and having that mindset is fantastic. But I think the role that we want him to play in certain situations is: how can we ask him to be as consistent, and 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.

"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 go and do for the team," Morkel told reporters in a press conference on Friday.

Addressing concerns over player fitness, which has been a recurring theme of late, Morkel assured that the team's management, in coordination with the medical staff, is constantly monitoring workloads to ensure key all-rounders like Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana return to peak fitness.

While Rana suffered a quadriceps strain during match simulations while trying to achieve fitness clearance, Pandya has been out of action after IPL 2026 due to leg and quadriceps injuries.

"We're constantly keeping an eye on workload management, how to give the guys the best opportunity to be fit and put their name in the hat for selection. We've got Hardik, Harshit Rana, all those guys still on the sidelines, and we're excited to get them back and get them playing and get them fit again.

"So that's part of our job to sit with the medical side and map that out. But there's definitely a plan for each and every individual, and we'll keep on monitoring that and coming up with the best way forward to give the selectors and to give everybody the best sort of group to pick from," he added.

While acknowledging that injuries are an unfortunate reality of international cricket, Morkel expressed confidence in India's bench strength. "Obviously, you want to have your strongest and condition-wise the best playing on the field. Sadly, it's part of the game that the guys get injured at times, and we didn't ideally want them to fall injured.

"But luckily, like I said, we've got fantastic backup in the wings, and it's a great opportunity for the guys to go and play a game for India, to make a name for themselves and to compete. But ideally, hopefully we can get all the injuries out of the way and later down the year we'll be fine, and we can take it from there," he added.

Assessing the playing surface at Greenfield International Stadium, Morkel predicted a high-scoring contest based on his assessment during the team's training session. "For me, it's my second time also at the venue here. My last outing was the T20 against New Zealand, and it was quite a high-scoring game.

"But luckily, like I said, we've got fantastic backup in the wings, and it's a great opportunity for the guys to go and play a game for India, to make a name for themselves and to compete. But ideally, hopefully we can get all the injuries out of the way and later down the year we'll be fine, and we can take it from there," he added.

“I expect a high-scoring game, and both teams play a very attacking brand of cricket. So, I think it's just going to be the team that can sum up the conditions best in that first 15 to 20 overs, whether or not the ball is still new," he concluded.

Article Source: IANS