Reddy credits Cummins and Morkel for bowling improvement

Nitish Kumar Reddy has credited work with his IPL captain Pat Cummins and India bowling coach Morne Morkel for his improvement with the ball after India felt like they were a seamer light in Australia. Reddy was the allrounder in on that tour, where he did impress with the bat and scored a century at MCG, but wasn't used nearly enough as a bowler.

More than the two wickets that he took on day one at Lord's, it was the fact that the captain trusted him enough to introduce him as early as the 14th over and then bowl him for 14 overs - as many as Mohammed Siraj - that should be good news for Reddy and India. Being slower in pace, he naturally swung the ball more than other seamers on average, but surprisingly he also extracted the most average seam, slightly more than Jasprit Bumrah. He also attacked the stumps most often.

"After Australia tour I felt like I have to improve my bowling and my consistency," Reddy said. "That's what I looked about. And yeah, Pat is my captain, and he's been brilliant in Australia and I have asked him some tips and he has been telling me how things would've been done in Australia, how can I go through in Australia. And that's a great experience for me, sharing with Pat Cummins.

"Coming to this tour, I would say, working with Morne Morkel has been great for me. He's working with me for couple of weeks and, we are seeing good progress in my bowling, and I'm really enjoying working with him."

Reddy played the first-class games and one intra-squad game before the Test matches. "We've been working on my consistency a lot since I get a bit of swing both ways," Reddy said. "I just want to be consistent on the areas. So we are working on that. I've been working hard on my bowling for one year or two years. I've been doing a lot of hard work, but later on it is about understanding things and believing in myself. If you believe, that's when your hard work comes on point. That's what I'm realising now."

Reddy bowled just five overs during the IPL because he was recovering from a side strain, but he has built up his loads pretty well. "After injury it's been a bit tough for me to get into my rhythm," Reddy said. "It had been hurting a bit after the injury as well. An the end of the IPL season, I got my bowling started into the matches and I felt great. I just want to enjoy the movement, want to bowl what my team wants from me and I guess that's what I have done exactly, and pretty happy the way I bowled today, and I just want to continue tomorrow."