How Nitish Kumar Reddy Used Instagram to Increase His Bowling Pace

Nitish Kumar Reddy turned out to be one of the best blowers for SRH in the last game. He took the wickets of Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre, which changed the game completely. But it was also noticed that his bowling speed has increased in this season. Everyone started to think about how it happened, and the reason turned out to be Instagram. 

Nitish was casually scrolling through Instagram, where he found the page of Steffan Jones. He is a former cricketer who now works on the biomechanics of fast bowlers to help them improve space. The algorithm helped Reddy to find him, as his team connected with Jones to know if he could help Nitish to improve his speed. While Jones had a tight schedule, he still made it to India for a week. 

Before starting with the practice sessions to improve his speed, Jones ran some tests on Nitish. He said, “What I found was key: he ran in on an angle, pelvis facing fine leg, spent too long on back-foot contact, and could run in faster and from further.”

Our Take

Nitish Kumar Reddy clocked approximately 140 kmph speed this IPL, which has been a significant improvement as compared to the 120-130 range he used to bowl. Steffan Jones has not just helped Nitish, he also helped another Indian bowler before, and it was Ishant Sharma. The way he uses biomechanics to tell the flaws and make improvements has been unmatched by any other bowling coach.