Christchurch: All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy expressed his readiness to continue chipping in as a full-fledged all-rounder and potentially partner superstar Hardik Pandya in the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa next year, saying that for him, the thing is about gaining more experience ahead of the showpiece tournament.
Nitish continued to prove his worth as a pace-bowling all-rounder, taking a crucial wicket of Bevon Jacobs in his spell of 1/31 in three overs and scoring a useful 26* in 13 balls to take India to a four-wicket win, snatching it from the jaws of a defeat after India sunk to 112/6 in 14.5 overs in a chase of 181 runs.
After India's win, Nitish was asked if he was ready to continue chipping in as an all-rounder and potentially partner India seam all-rounder Hardik Pandya in South Africa next year.
"When you are made to bowl in defensive situations, it helps," Nitish stated how bowling the crunch overs helped his game as quoted by ICC. "It is all about experience right now (ahead of the World Cup). It is all about getting more and more experience before the right time comes," he added.
In eight ODIs and five innings, Nitish has scored 109 runs at an average of 27.25, with a fifty and taken a total of three wickets. With 11 wickets in 11 T20Is at an average of 25.36, with best figures of 3/24, his bowling has flourished the most in the shortest format.
When asked about his brisk knock during a tense chase, Nitish discussed how he sought to put the pressure back on the New Zealand bowlers despite the tourists needing 69 off 31 with just four wickets in hand.
"The moment I walked in. The moment when I got the four. We were just talking, 'Tilak we have to believe that we are going to get one strong, good over' and that is what the T20 game is all about. One good over and the pressure is back on the bowling side."
"We managed to take twos of even the good balls. And off the bad balls, we managed to hit for boundaries. I think that's where the game really changed for us," he added.
Nitish also credited India head coach Gautam Gambhir for not adding any unnecessary expectations on the players and letting their natural game take over.
"Gautam sir keeps telling us, whatever situation we are in, we have to keep believing. He did not put any other extra pressure that we have to go in and straightaway go bang bang. We are experienced players, and we played to ourselves, and the results came."
Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bowl first. They had New Zealand down 41/3 within the powerplay. Glenn Phillips (70 in 46 balls, with four boundaries and sixes each) and Bevon Jacobs (58 in 46 balls, with five fours and a six) led New Zealand's recovery after an early top-order collapse against India after Kiwis were down 41/3 within powerplay, stitching a 116-run stand for the fourth wicket, taking NZ to 180/5 in 20 overs.
Besides Arshdeep's 2/33, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy got a wicket each.
While chasing 181 set by New Zealand, the world champions collapsed from 40/0 to 112/6, with Mitchell Santner's four-fer causing havoc in the middle overs. The hope was reinstated by a quickfire 31 in 17 balls (with a four and three sixes) by Naman Dhir, and it was Tilak (51* in 26 balls, with six fours and a six) and Nitish (26* in 13 balls, with a four and a six) who took India to victory with a ball left. India is 2-0 up in the five-match series.