IND vs ENG: Not Jasprit Bumrah or Mohammed Siraj - Nitish Kumar Reddy rattles England with a double blow in one over

England entered the 3rd Test at Lord’s, London, bracing for the fury of India's lethal pace trio - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep. But in focusing on the obvious threats, they seemed to miss the wildcard in India's line-up: Nitish Kumar Reddy. Introduced into the attack by captain Shubman Gill in the 14th over, Reddy wasted no time making his presence felt.

In a fiery burst, the pace all-rounder did what the frontline quicks couldn't - he dismantled England's top order in a matter of minutes. With back-to-back strikes in the span of just three balls, Reddy sent both openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, packing, flipping the script and jolting England's innings.


At 13.3 overs, Nitish Kumar Reddy got his breakthrough. A harmless-looking short ball down the leg side lured Ben Duckett into a flick. But instead of finding the boundary, he got a faint glove, and Rishabh Pant, quick to react, dived to his right to take a smart catch. The appeal was loud, the finger went up fast, and just like that, Reddy had his maiden Test wicket on English soil.

Three balls later, at 13.6 overs, Reddy made it count. This time, it was a beauty - a ball that angled in before straightening just enough to catch Zak Crawley in two minds. He reached out hesitantly, and the ball feathered his glove on its way to Pant, who made no mistake. Two openers gone and a fiery statement from a young all-rounder who had just shifted the mood at Lord's.


Soon after, fans flooded X (formerly Twitter) with praise for Nitish Kumar Reddy, applauding his unexpected double strike that not only broke England’s opening stand but also forced the visitors to rethink their entire approach.

One said, "What a bowling change by Gill, NKR strikes in the first over."


Another said, "Finally Nitish Kumar Reddy doing what I thought he'll do in BGT. But Rohit Sharma never trusted him with the ball."


Even Mumbai Indians (MI) X handle poked fun and wrote, "Nitish Kumar Reddy came out of syllabus."


India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

England(Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

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