Why Rohit Sharma should have dropped Nitish Kumar Reddy instead of Shubman Gill for Boxing Day Test

Dropping Shubman Gill and playing three all-rounders wasn’t ever going to work. Team India has not found the right balance even once, having played at least two all-rounders in every game. But the issue has been that the ‘all-rounders’ played aren’t really all-rounders. With a maximum of three innings left to bowl in the series, Nitish Kumar Reddy, who’s played all of the matches, has thrown down just 34 overs. For comparison, Jasprit Bumrah bowled the same number of overs in Brisbane alone.

Nitish Kumar Reddy playing as batter/part-time bowler

The ploy to pick two all-rounders has hurt Team India. The overall great performance in Perth, where the top order clicked in the second innings while the pacers did well throughout the match, has overshadowed the issue caused since. But the decision to play Nitish Reddy, who isn’t contributing with the ball, has hit them. Considering he’s a pacer, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma have played him as the 4th bowler, but he’s been anything but.

Washington Sundar, who’s missed two whole Tests, has bowled just 2 fewer overs than Nitish Reddy. The 21-year-old has basically been playing as a part-time bowler who bats at number 7 or 8. You can’t have that in Test cricket. Talking about Washington, he’s also basically played as a batter. The management may have played him as a proper all-rounder, but they haven’t handed him the ball enough. Washington bowled fewer overs than Ravindra Jadeja.

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s bowling output in BGT 2024-25

In fact, combined, Nitish and Washington bowled one less over than Jadeja in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test. All three did well with the bat, considering they are batting at number 6 or lower. But the question is, wouldn’t a pure batter like Shubman Gill have done better on a pitch that was helping batters more than bowlers on Day 2 and 3?

Wickets more than Nitish Reddy’s lower-order runs

Gill, unlike the all-rounders, can bat longer and score big. Lower-order runs don’t often win matches but rather save them. That’s exactly what Gambhir and Rohit want to do, it seems. Not go for the win but play safe. Their tactics have been off for a while, but to deprive yourself of a top-order batter and play an all-rounder who’s bowling less than 10% of total overs just doesn’t seem right.

There is no doubt Nitish Reddy has done well with the bat and has in fact been one of the three best batters for Team India. But his runs down the order won’t win them matches. 20 wickets will. There is a reason why India looked good in Perth; it wasn’t that KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal did splendidly, but because the pacers combined did well. They first restricted Australia to 104 and then got them out in under 60 overs.

In the games that have followed, barring Jasprit Bumrah, no bowler has really stood out. That’s exactly why Team India is struggling. Yes, the runs aren’t coming, but Australia had the same problem. The only difference is even when their batters didn’t do well, their bowlers did.