Will Gill and Gambhir be bold enough to leave Nitish Reddy for the 4th frontline bowler?

All appreciated Nitish Kumar Reddy’s performance in Australia. In his first Test series, the then -21 -year -old ended India’s second largest scorer after Yashsvi Jaiswal. However, for all good he did with the bat, 3–1 losses can also be attributed to their selection.

Nitish Reddy’s mistake in Australia

How and why, you ask? Well, this is quite easy. Four of his 9 innings came in number eight. This is correct. For someone seen as a proper batsman, Nitish scored 209 runs for a total of 298 runs. For reference, Pat Cummins has played 48 times at that place and is seen as someone who can hold the bat. Syed Kirmani is the only batsman, and he was a wicketkeeper who has more than 1,000 runs at number 8.

No one is criticizing Nitish, nor is it an attempt to reduce his performance. But the question is, what was India trying to complete by playing Nitish? He is an all -rounder, but only on paper. For example, take Ravindra Jadeja. Despite being a pace series, Jadeja bowled 19 more overs than Nitish, which is a pacer.

Overall, Nitish bowled in just 44 overs out of 9 innings out of 538.5 overs given by India in a 5 -match series. This number does not show that Nitish is an all-rounder, but a part-timer. And if India saw him as the top five batsmen, then why was he never sent to bat on Jadeja?

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s bowling output in BGT 2024-25

If India had played an additional fast bowler in Australia, instead of the result, the result could have been different. Now, one can say that India scored runs by them and this is true. But despite all these runs, the loss difference for India was 10 wickets, 184 runs and 6 wickets. The matches were not close at all. And if Jaspreet is not for Bumrah, the scorline would have been 0-4.

His run came in handy, but how many matches do you win because your number was an average of 45? This is the top order that needs to set fire and then with the ball, you need a wicket. India managed the East to some extent but left Bumrah and some efforts of Mohammad Sirj, wickets were not coming easily.

Why Gill and Gambhir should not make the same mistake

This is why in the India vs England Test series, new captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir will have to take a bold step. They need to bat to 7, which will be Jadeja, and then four appropriate bowlers. Nitish can score 400 runs at number 7, but still, it will not guarantee a series win. Because Nitish scored 298 runs in Australia, and we were not close to winning.

Even a vs England Lions match in India, Nitish bowled just 26.5 overs in 2 matches. He got only 2 wickets and went in 4.17 runs per over. And we are not talking about the main team of England here. These are bad numbers. You cannot actually go for a pure batsman in number eight, who balls 10-15 runs per match.

One also has to make a factor that Bumrah will not play all five matches in England. Despite being the best in Australia, Pacer can help win a match. Now, how can anyone expect that India will beat England, which is expected to be on batting -friendly surfaces, when you have only 3 bowlers other than Jadeja? Depending on the surface, Gill and Gambhir should risk playing in four pacers and a frontline spinner or three pacers and two frontline spinners, Jadeja.

India bowlers for England Test series

Fast bowler: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasad Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Shardul Thakur, Nitish Kumar Reddy

Spinners: Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav