Mumbai: From the other corner of the stadium during last year's Boxing Day Test, Pat Cummins and Daniel Vettori would have been waiting for the Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy to join them in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, as he treated the Australian pacers and spinners with the same disdain.

Reddy's uplifting tale of overcoming economic hardship to achieve his first Test century at the Melbourne Cricket Ground gained a cult following after he came from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam. Following the Australian tour, he was greeted like a hero with an open jeep parade through the streets of his hometown. The broadcasters began branding the Telugu coverage of IPL 2025 around the local hero NKR in an effort to capitalize on his newfound fan base.

Reddy hasn't lived up to the hype after eight games this year.

With an average of 19 and a SR of 110, the all-rounder has scored 133 runs over seven innings. Reddy hasn't given himself any chance to replicate the stylish motion from Allu Arjun's character 'Pushpa', which he famously performed in Melbourne when he reached his first Test fifty, with his high score of 32.

What, then, is the true problem for NKR?

The issue is not that he is having trouble making contact with the ball. However, the timing of his strokes, which everyone raved about all of the previous year, seems to have gone wrong. He's gone aerial but failed to clear the field in six of his seven dismissals. In Tuesday's match against the Mumbai Indians, Reddy attempted to maintain his form against Deepak Chahar, but his on drive went directly into the hands of the mid-on.

He has struggled to make contact with both speed and spin. Reddy is not often a hitter who struggles with strike rate issues. The reverse sweep, which has a wide variety of strokes, is as much a component of his batting arsenal as the cover drive.

Reddy was anticipated to be the mainstay of the middle order, batting at No. 4, since he was one of the franchise's five retained players. Whether the 21-year-old is making an excessive effort to defend his position as a "retained player" is debatable.

Reddy's talent scout during his age-group days and the former chief selector for India, MSK Prasad, states, "I don't believe so. He demonstrated his mettle by scoring a Test hundred in Australia."

It's hard to tell if the side strain Reddy sustained following Australia has affected his stroke play, but it might also be that he's having trouble adjusting to the excessively aggressive SRH batting approach, which has been more unsuccessful than successful.

Reddy's failures have exacerbated SRH's batting issues, particularly this season, when the openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head haven't gelled outside of a few games.

Prasad claims, "That's part of the issue." "Earlier, the top three would have already done a lot of damage by the time Nitish would come." He has had to bat in the Powerplay on half the occasions this year. He's only giving himself a little time to get used to i

Reddy participated in just two games in 2023. This is basically his second IPL season, and he's not the first player to experience second season blues. He had his breakthrough IPL last year, scoring more than 300 runs with a strike rate of 143. It's notable that the right-hander hit 21 sixes the previous year. This year, Reddy's blade has produced only two peaks.

The decision of India to choose Reddy for the Test tour of England almost coincided with his batting struggles. Reddy is still the favorite to maintain his position as India's pace bowling all-rounder, even if he hasn't scored any runs. Because Reddy caught the attention of head coach Gautam Gambhir, who supported his expedited entry into Test cricket.

In this year's IPL, though, Reddy hasn't bowled at all. Reddy hasn't been trusted by Cummins to bowl even the rare over that he used to bowl frequently the previous year under the Impact Player rule. The only competition for Reddy in England is the seasoned Shardul Thakur, who has been bowling consistently for the Lucknow Super Giants.

Reddy's performance in the second half of the IPL might be motivated by the national selectors' desire for him to make an impression before being chosen for the Indian team.

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