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Indias assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has again shown confidence in pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy calling him a quality all-rounder and saying that the team sees him as an important part of their future plans. When did Nitish Reddy return to Team India? After recovering from a knee injury that ended his England tour early Nitish Reddy returned to the team during India’s strong win over the West Indies in Ahmedabad where they won by an innings and 140 runs. In that match he bowled just four overs in the first innings and didn’t get a chance to bowl in the second. Since India declared at 448/5 he also didn’t get to bat. Even though ten Doeschate mentioned that the pitch in New Delhi might not support pace bowlers — especially with the sun drying out the moisture caused by two days of rain — he made it clear that Nitish will still be included in the playing XI. What did Ryan ten Doeschate say? Its a little too early to say on the pitch from our look today. This side in particular looks very dry and very patchy. So we dont think its going to be able to get that necessarily helps seam bowlers which I dont think is a big surprise with Delhi. Id say we are unlikely to change the combination.” One of the medium-term objectives is to develop a seam-bowling all-rounder. The group needs to go way up to this. If we have that position covered we can get a very good chance as Nitish didn’t get to do much last week. This is something thats actually a very good opportunity to get Nitish game time and keep the balance in the eleven” said ten Doeschate in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday. How were Nitish Kumar Reddys performances? So far Nitish has played eight Tests after being fast-tracked for the rare skill sets he possesses and though ten Doeschate was in praise of him he also acknowledged the physical demands of the role being a big challenge and getting ample game time for his long-term sustainability. “We think he’s a fantastic seam-bowling all-rounder - a batter who bowls seam. I think the biggest limitation to what he’s capable of achieving will be his body. He’s not the first all-rounder we’ve seen in this country especially in the last two to three years. Let’s be perfectly honest - Hardik is a similar kind of player. We don’t doubt their skills at all but for their bodies to hold up to play Test cricket is a different matter. “Nitish showed everyone in Australia just how good he is as a batter. Again the challenge for him is going to be to make sure that he gets a game time in between the away series and in series like this where you look at the combinations its more important to look ahead and see how we can put him in to make sure that he does get game time to try and get some bowling. But the crux is we really like him and we think hes a quality all-rounder” he said. How did Nitish Kumar Reddy start his career? Reddy began his Test cricket career as a number six batter but being slotted at number eight in Ahmedabad was too low a position for someone who has a Test hundred against his name. Ten Doeschate admitted it was sad for Nitish not to get batting much higher but felt it’s a reflection of competition in the side for lower-order batting positions. “The sort of lucky thing for us is that Washi and Jaddu and even Axar are pretty much the same sort of players. I feel like if theyre anywhere theyre far more attributed. On the most recent event Washi getting important runs in the UK. Obviously Jaddus form in the last six months has been immense. Unfortunately that means when Nitish got back into the team after his injury you can see right at the back why he’s slotted so late in the batting order.” “Like I said the only drawback or the only sort of downer from last week was the fact that Nitish didnt get to complete any of the requirements. But I think its also a strong message to the guys at our party that you need to be versatile. You need to be able to bat anywhere from five to eight.” “We feel thats a good way to get the players to know that they can perform in different scenarios and in different positions. Were all disappointed that theyre not batting 6-7 and that means they never get to be in the space they would like to be” he concluded.