"Saw My Father Crying": Nitish Kumar Reddy Recalls Financial Struggles Behind Cricketing Turnaround

In his own words, he was not "serious" about cricket in his early days. But everything changed for Nitish Reddy when he saw tears rolling down his father's face owing to their financial struggles. It was a transformative moment for the young all-rounder who vowed to work harder and achieve success in the game, which culminated in a fine debut for India in the first Test against Australia at Perth. Reddy produced an impressive show, scoring 41 and 38 runs in the two innings against the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood at Optus Stadium. He also claimed a wicket as India registered a massive 295-run win.

"To be honest, I was not serious when I was young," he said in a video released by the BCCI on Thursday.

"My father left his job for me and there has been a lot of sacrifice behind my story. One day, I saw him crying because of the financial problems we were facing, and I was like, this is not how you can be... that my father made the sacrifices and you play cricket just for fun.

"At that time, I became serious and I got the growth. I worked hard and it paid off. As a son from a middle-class family, I am so proud that my father is happy now. I gave my first jersey to him and saw the happiness in his face," he added.

The 21-year-old is likely to retain his spot in the Pink-ball second Test at Adelaide Oval, having slammed 42 off 32 balls in the day-night warm-up match against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra.

In the second innings at Perth, Reddy shared an unbroken 77-run partnership with his hero Virat Kohli, who handed him his maiden Test cap ahead, thus fulfilling a childhood dream.

Recalling the time when he took a selfie with Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma during the 2018 BCCI awards