IND vs ENG, Lord’s Test: Reddy reveals how Australian captain Cummins helped improve his bowling

Nitish Kumar Reddy came out of the syllabus for England on day one at Lord’s. While they prepared hard for the returning world no. 1 quick Jasprit Bumrah and Edgbaston Test hero for India, Akash Deep, gifting Reddy two wickets in his first over was never part of the plan. The medium pacer first removed Ben Duckett off a sluggish delivery before sending back under fire Zak Crawley off a peach. His twin strikes set the tone for the day, as England deployed an old-school Test approach to share honours on day one. Reddy, however, credited his IPL team (SRH) captain Pat Cummins for improvement in his bowling.

Reddy debuted in Tests on the tour Down Under, primarily playing as a batting all-rounder. Less on pace and seam movement, the then-India captain Rohit Sharma didn’t use him enough on bouncy Aussie tracks.

In IPL 2025, Reddy vowed to work on improving his bowling; he decided to approach his team skipper (Cummins), who helped him work on his pace and seam position, which paid dividends a few months later in London.

However, considering that the new skipper Shubman Gill introduced Reddy inside the first 15 overs, making him bowl 14 throughout the day – the same as Mohammed Siraj, it reflects the confidence he has in his bowling. On day one, unlike the frontline quicks, Reddy was slower through the air and even got more movement. The medium seamer also extracted the most average seam, more than Bumrah, and also attacked the stumps more often, troubling the English.

"After the Australia tour, I felt like I have to improve my bowling and my consistency," Reddy said. "That's what I looked [at]. And yeah, Pat is my captain [in the IPL], and he's been brilliant in Australia, and I have asked him [for] some tips and he has been telling me how things would have been done in Australia, how can I go through in Australia. And that's a great experience for me, sharing with Pat Cummins.

“Coming to this tour, I would say, working with Morne Morkel has been great for me. He's working with me for a couple of weeks, and we are seeing good progress in my bowling, and I'm really enjoying working with him.”

Morkel’s role in nourishing Reddy

Team India bowling coach Morne Morkel has also played a handy role in nourishing Reddy as a bowler. Reddy revealed the areas the two are working on, and by believing in himself, he has upped his game.

"We've been working on my consistency a lot since I get a bit of swing both ways," Reddy said. “I just want to be consistent on the areas. So we are working on that. I've been working hard on my bowling for one year or two years. I've been doing a lot of hard work, but later on, it is about understanding things and believing in myself. If you believe, that's when your hard work comes on point. That's what I'm realising now.”