Nitish Kumar Reddy bore the brunt of what transpired in the final over of Day 3 of the third Test between the Indian fielders led by captain Shubman Gill and England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. It gave an entirely different colour to the India vs England Test series. Zak Crawley's blatant time-wasting tactics angered Shubman Gill to such an extent that he used the choicest words and hand gestures to rattle the England opener. The tension continued the next day as India's bowlers gave a send-off to most of the England batters -- India pacer Mohammed Siraj was fined 15% of his match fee for his aggressive send-off to Ben Duckett. Late on Day 4 and early part of Day 5, it was England's turn to take revenge and quite a bitter one.
India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who played a part in the Day 3 squabble, was sledged mercilessly by the England fielders, but none were more relentless than Harry Brook. The No.1-ranked batter was constantly breathing down Nitish Reddy's neck when the India all-rounder came out to bat at No.9 after India lost Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Washington Sundar.
In the 30th over, Brook was caught chirping, “Who do you think you are? I remember when we were with the Sunrisers, you didn't say anything there.” A ball later, he said, "Jaddu needs to score all the runs. This is not IPL," to Reddy. Interestingly, Brook and Nitish Reddy were teammates at the Sunrisers Hyderabad not too long ago. While Nitish was retained by SRH, Brook was bought by Delhi Capitals in the mega auction. The England batter, however, pulled out of the IPL and attracted a two-year ban from participating in the league.
If Brook going after Nitish Reddy was not enough, England captain Ben Stokes also joined in. He bowled the last ball of the next over, which was successfully defended by Nitish Reddy, only to hear a mouthful from the England skipper. Stokes had a lot to say to Nitish, who shook his head in response.
In between, Nitish showed a lot of courage with his solid defence. He also hit a beautiful cover drive off Strokes to get a boundary. But after serving a marathon spell from the England captain, Nitish got a faint nick through to England keeper Jamie Smith in the last over before lunch on Day 5, bowled by Chris Woakes.
Nitish's dismissal for 13 meant India were tottering at 112 for eight chasing 193. Starting the day at 58 for four and needing another 135 runs on a rapidly deteriorating surface with variable bounce, India needed their experienced batters to fire for their fourth success at the iconic ground since 193,2, but it was not to be.
The loss of Rishabh Pant (9 off 12 balls), KL Rahul (39 off 58) and Washington Sundar (0 off 4) inside the first hour made chasing 193 an improbable task for India.
