Nitish Kumar Reddy contributed significantly with his all-round skills in Sunrisers Hyderabad's 33-run win against the Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday, May 6. The 22-year-old earned massive praise from Aakash Chopra after the game.
Reddy smashed an unbeaten 29 off 13 balls in the first innings, hitting two fours and as many sixes. In the second innings, he shared the new ball with Pat Cummins and dismissed the in-form Prabhsimran Singh with the first delivery he bowled.
Chopra called him the best all-rounder of the ongoing tournament, placing him ahead of more experienced players like Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, among others.
"He is the best all-rounder of this tournament at the moment. No other all-rounder has scored 200 runs and taken five or more wickets. The team suddenly started looking weak when he missed a match. He was unwell, and the moment he comes back, looks brilliant," he said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra also admired how the Andhra Pradesh all-rounder has put in the hard yards behind the scenes to increase his pace.
"He is bowling in different phases. Why does your pace increase? It's because you feel you need to increase your pace. The pace won't increase automatically. He realized he had to do something. So he worked for that and has come after increasing his pace," he elaborated.
The former India opener also mentioned the fact that Reddy has contributed with crucial wickets in the power play as well as through the middle overs.
"He bowls seam-up deliveries in the Powerplay and picks up crucial wickets. He gives one or two overs in the middle overs as well. He has been consistently performing and contributing," Chopra observed.
He is making a case not just to select him but to play him in white-ball cricket: Aakash Chopra on Nitish Kumar Reddy
Aakash Chopra opined that Reddy was always a very good batter, but the maturity and consistency he has shown this IPL season have helped him throw his hat in the ring for a regular place in India's white-ball squads.
"As regards his batting, all of us know, and I might have said two or three years ago that Nitish Kumar Reddy was a great pick for the SunRisers Hyderabad. However, it has taken time to reach here. We saw in Melbourne in the Boxing Day Test match that he can bat well," he said.
"So he is a good player, but maturity, consistency, and regular performances have come to the fore a little more this season, and, therefore, I think he is making a case not just to select him but to play him in white-ball cricket and give him a little more responsibility," Chopra observed.
In IPL 2026, the Visakhapatnam-born has scored 222 runs in nine innings at an average of 31.71 and a strike rate of 166.92. With the ball, he has picked up seven wickets from 10 games.
