Sunil Gavaskar, former captain of the Indian cricket team, is all praise for the players who participated in the first Test of Australia against India as it was without Rohit Sharma, the regular captain of the team. The side has now brought glory to the busy city of Perth by winning over Australia with some support from Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli. However, in terms of debutant allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, Gavaskar feels he gave the ‘most impressive’ performance. In addition to taking 1 wicket, Reddy scored 41 and 38*.
“…the most impressive innings was from Nitish Reddy. He showed an awareness of what was required which belied the fact that he was making his Test debut. Even in the first innings, he displayed a refreshing grasp of scoring opportunities and ended up as the top scorer. His bowling too came in handy, and his fielding was outstanding. Here is a man for the future,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
He had one of his best days in the first Test when. Gavaskar, on the other hand, was doubtful about Reddy being ready for Test cricket on Day 1 of the 1st Test. “I would have thought that on these Australian wickets, there are big boundaries, so I thought you would have gone with both of them (R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja). But this is a new management, new thinking. They have gone with Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is a promising cricketer, and made no mistake about that. But is he ready for Test cricket?” he had said during commentary.
Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul were also praised in the latest assessment by Gavaskar.
“India will now travel to Adelaide, having silenced the experts once again with one of the all-time great performances in Perth. It was primarily about Jasprit Bumrah, who did everything possible to make the proudest batter squirm-no joke at all. He always had them, and no delivery was ever relaxed enough for the batters not to have it thrown at them again with uncomfortable questions. While Bumrah certainly enjoyed the help from the pitch, what was heartening was that the batters batted on an unfamiliar surface.”-Gavaskar.
“That young Yashasvi Jaiswal is indeed a fast learner was very evident by the straightness of his bat at the start of the second innings. As he became settled with some truly brilliant batting guidance from K.L. Rahul at the other end, one could see the Aussie shoulders sagging at the certainty of this prodigy collecting yet another significant hundred. “Their heads lowered even more as Virat Kohli got himself another hundred in Australia by rocking up on the solid base set by openers,” he said.”