Nitish Kumar Reddy, a 21-year-old cricketer, has shared his exciting story about how he went from dreaming of playing cricket with his hero, Virat Kohli, to actually debuting for Team India last month in Perth. Reddy grew up looking up to Kohli and often thought about how old he would be when he got a chance to play alongside him.
His lifelong dream came true last month when Kohli himself gave him his first Test cap before the 1st Test against Australia. India won that match by a huge 295 runs and took the lead in the series. After the game, a photo of Reddy and Kohli went viral. In the picture, Reddy is taking a selfie while Kohli is sitting a bit away and isn’t looking at the camera. Reddy called it his “safety photo.” He said, “I took this picture because Kohli is so famous. I wanted a photo just in case I didn’t get another chance. It reminds me of all my childhood dreams.”
During the Test match, Reddy couldn’t help but focus more on Kohli’s performance than his own. He shares, “I was so excited watching him get closer to his hundred runs. I didn’t even realize I was close to scoring my first fifty runs; I just wanted to see him make his 81st hundred. It was a special moment.”
Reddy also talked about how he felt nervous around the senior players at first. But KL Rahul helped him feel more comfortable. Reddy said, “I was a bit scared at first about talking to the other players, but I felt good talking to KL bhai. He gives great advice.” One piece of advice that stuck with Reddy was when Rahul told him, “When you go out to play, everything moves quickly, so don’t rush; take your time.” He found this helpful before his debut match because everything did happen so fast!
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