Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy etched his name in history books with a match-winning performance against the Punjab Kings in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Nitish's all-round show meant he created a unique record during SRH's two-run win over PBKS on Tuesday.
With the bat, he struck a magnificent 64 in just 37 deliveries, and with the ball, he dismissed Jitesh Sharma and took a catch to dismiss Prabhsimran Singh.
He is now, the first uncapped player in the IPL to score 50-plus runs, take a wicket, and bag a catch in an IPL match.
At 20 years and 319 days, he is also the second youngest player to score a half-century in the IPL. Priyam Garg at 19 years and 307 days became the youngest player to score a fifty.
"For me it's like a big contribution for my team and for myself. I have been telling myself that I should believe in myself. The seamers were bowling really well, I didn't want to take on them. I knew that the spinners would come and I wanted to attack them, I just did that," he said.
"The whole tournament, they are bowling slow bouncers and it's really working. I also used the dimensions to get the wicket. I just want to continue this performance with the bat or ball or with the fielding, I just want to be like this," he added.
"When I was planning to score the runs, the same time Samad came into bat. It's not easy for one batter to attack all bowlers. It was Samad who gave me confidence as played some brilliant grounded shots," the right-hand batter added.
In the end, Nitish spoke about his conversation with skipper Pat Cummins during the second innings.
"I was always confident in my bowling. The wicket which I took was crucial. I was saying to Pat that I wanted to bowl slower ones but he told me to bowl on hard lenghts. Then I said that I have confidence in my slower ones so he said that if you are confident then go with it," the all-rounder concluded.
His all-round performance got him the Player of the Match Award.
