Nitish Kumar Reddy becomes first Andhra fast bowler to lead India’s pace attack
Nitish Kumar Reddy has made history as the first fast bowler from Andhra Pradesh to lead India's pace attack in international cricket. His recent performance has drawn praise from experts who view him as a potential long-term all-rounder solution for the national team.
Why it matters
Reddy's emergence represents a significant milestone for cricket development in the Andhra region and provides a potential successor to established all-rounders.
Until a few decades ago, a fast bowler from Andhra Pradesh leading the Indian pace attack in international cricket was a distant dream.
But on Sunday (September 27, 2026), Nitish Kumar Reddy , 23, from Gajuwaka, a suburb of Visakhapatnam , became the first fast bowler from Andhra to head the Indian pace attack. Opening the bowling alongside Prasidh Krishna, he shared the new ball for the match.
Though he leaked 18 runs in his very first over, he bounced back strongly to bowl the final over. In the last over, usually the one batters slog in, he conceded just seven runs and also took the wicket of Matthew Forde.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐊 𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐘𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐊𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐘 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐕𝐄 🇮🇳 With Hardik's place in India's playing XI for next year's World Cup looking increasingly uncertain, Nitish has been given the opportunity to make a case… pic.twitter.com/0riPWzDK2n
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in