Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar seemed impressed with allrounder Nitish Reddy after his brilliant show with the bat at MCG. And now, Gavaskar has gone on to claim that Reddy is better that veteran allrounder Hardik Pandya in Test cricket. Hardik has stopped playing red-ball cricket as he chose the limited-overs version over it. Now that Gavaskar has given his approval, can we safely say, India has found Hardik’s replacement in Tests? Yes, would be the answer. Gavaskar also went on to credit chief selector Ajit Agarkar for showing faith in him. 

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‘Credit to Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors’

“The Melbourne Test brought to the fore one of the brightest young stars in Indian cricket, Nitish Kumar Reddy. He came to the attention of the Indian cricket fans with his performances for the (Sunrisers) Hyderabad franchise in the IPL , and while he had not done much at the first-class level, it’s a credit to Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors to have seen enough to pitchfork him into the Test arena,” the batting legend wrote in his coloumn. 

“In his debut Test match in Perth itself, it became evident that here’s a cricketer who could read situations and play accordingly. With every subsequent Test match, that impression of a good ‘cricketing head’ on his shoulders began to get stronger and stronger,” Gavaskar further explained.

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WHAT LIES AHEAD?

India are currently on the losing end of the Border Gavaskar Trophy with their latest defeat in Melbourne. India are currently losing 2-1 with the chance of making the WTC final slowly slipping away. They would be desperate to bounce back and win at Sydney. By doing that, they will ensure the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy stays with India. It will not be easy as Indian players would be down on confidence. It will be interesting to see if the Indian side make changes to their XI or stick to the same XI.