NEW DELHI: Aa the questions are being raised on his bowling capabilities, Indian men’s cricket team all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy on Friday delivered a solid bowling performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), taking a hat-trick for Andhra in their match against Madhya Pradesh (MP).Reddy’s hat-trick left MP at 14 for 3 inside three overs while chasing 113. However, Andhra could not convert his early breakthroughs into a win.
MP even later slipped to 37 for 4 in the seventh over when Venkatesh Iyer was also dismissed. But a 73-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Rishabh Chouhan and Rahul Batham helped MP recover and win by four wickets with 15 balls remaining.The result gave MP four points in the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Chouhan and Batham rebuilt the innings calmly after the early collapse. Chouhan made 47 off 43 balls with six fours, while Batham remained not out on 35 from 32 balls.Earlier, after being put in to bat, Andhra were 7 for 2 before Reddy added 50 runs for the third wicket with KS Bharat.Reddy became the fifth bowler from Andhra to claim a hat-trick in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The previous ones were D Sivakumar (vs Hyderabad, 2013/14), DB Prasanth Kumar (vs Karnataka, 2014/15), VC Stephen (vs Assam, 2015/16), and BSM Ayyappa (vs Kerala, 2017/18). Reddy’s hat-trick was also the first of this season’s tournament.
