Nitish reveals how idol Kohli's shoes played a role in his iconic BGT century

Ahead of IPL 2025 Nitish Kumar Reddy sat down with PUMA India for an exclusive chat to reflect on his meteoric risemdashfrom his recordbreaking BorderGavaskar Trophy century to the lighthearted dressing room banter that earned him a special gift from Virat Kohli now forever tied to that historic inningsA lifelong fan of Kohli the PUMA athlete couldnrsquot resist when the cricket legend offered up a prized pair of his shoes Wearing them at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Nitish scripted history becoming the first Indian batter to score a Test century in Australia from No 8mdashthe thirdyoungest Indian centurion in Australia after Sachin Tendulkar amp Rishabh Pantmdashand setting the record for the most sixes by an Indian in a Test series thereldquoBack in the locker room he Kohli once asked Sarfaraz Khan lsquoSarfu tera size kya hairsquo Sarfaraz whatrsquos your shoe size and he said lsquoNinersquo Then he turned to me and I thought lsquoOh my god I have to guess this correctlyrsquo because even if they werenrsquot my size I really wanted his shoes I said lsquo10rsquo and he gave them to me In the next match I wore those shoes and scored a hundred Reddy shared in the hourlong podcast also revealing that he later got both his bat and those shoes signed by KohliAlso ReadGujarat Titans IPL 2025 fixtures Full schedule match dates timings and venuesWith the key cricket season approaching Nitish has cemented himself as one of cricketrsquos brightest young talents He played a key role in his teamrsquos IPL final run last season scoring 303 runs and taking three wickets under Pat Cumminsrsquo ldquodedicated and calmrdquo leadership Determined to become a top allrounder Nitish has also sought advice from Hardik Pandya while impressing on his Bangladesh debut before his BGT heroicsIn this rare openhearted chat with sports host Arjun Pandit at PUMA India headquarters in Bengaluru Nitish revealed that amidst the celebrations of his unforgettable Melbourne century he found himself searching for just two people ldquoEveryone in the dressing room came up and congratulated me but I was just looking for one guymdashhoping hersquod come and talk to me When Virat bhai Kohli finally walked up and told me I had played a wonderful game that moment itself was special for me I was also scanning the stands for my father but couldnrsquot find him Later I saw on the screen that he was cryingrdquoNitish credited both his father and uncle for shaping his cricketing journey sharing that they were in the stands that day watching him salute the tricolour in front of 80000 roaring fansBeyond the big moments Nitish also shared a lighter side of his time at Down Under recalling how his franchise teammate Travis Head tried to throw him off with some playful sledging ldquoTravis came up to me and said lsquoNitish where are you going to party tonightrsquomdashknowing fully well that I wouldnrsquot Then he went on lsquoAustralia is such a great place Melbourne is an amazing city you have to go out and chillrsquo He was just trying to distract me I just told him lsquoOkay Travis one day wersquoll both go and partyrsquo During another match he was fielding at short leg and warned me lsquoNitish if you hit me Irsquoll hit you when you bowlrdquoThe young cricketer has also built strong camaraderie with Indias nextgen stars having come up the ranks alongside Riyan Parag a fellow PUMA ambassador Abhishek Sharma and others from U13 to U19 cricket ldquoWersquove all worked hard to get here and itrsquos all paying off now I love their energy and the way they performrdquo he shared during the interviewOff the field the Gen Z cricketer has another passionmdashanime A diehard Naruto fan he even collects action figures and introduced it to Abhishek Sharma ldquoBut he Abhishek still calls it cartoons just to annoy merdquo Nitish laughed When Nitish is not on the pitch or debating anime he is found unwinding with friends over intense battles on the console calling them his ultimate stressbustersNitish joined PUMA Indiarsquos illustrious roster in 2024 that features sport icons PV Sindhu Harmanpreet Kaur Mohammed Shami boxing champ MC Mary Kom and youngsters Riyan Parag Richa Ghosh Avani Lekhara Niki Prasad Sarabjot Singh amongst othersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever