The third Test match, being conducted at Lord’s, began wonderfully for India, and the credit for this belongs to young fast bowler Nitish Reddy, who dealt an early blow to England by picking two crucial wickets in his first over. Reddy dismissed opener Ben Duckett behind the wicket off the third ball of his first over. The ball was heading outside the off stump after having bounced on the pitch, on which Duckett had swished his bat, but the ball hit the back of his bat and went into wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s gloves. (Nitish Reddy Picks Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley Wicket at Lord’s).
Caught behind x TWO đ
Nitish Kumar Reddy gets both the England openers đȘ
England 44/2 after 14 overs
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Pant Takes A Fantastic Catch
Just two balls after that, on the final ball of the over, Reddy also sent Zak Crawley packing. Crawley was in good touch and had also made 18 runs, but Reddy’s superb seam position and additional bounce caught him off guard. The ball took the edge of the bat and went straight into the hands of Pant again, and England lost their second as well.
Nitish Reddy Makes History
Young pace bowler Nitish Reddy has done a rare thing in the Lord’s Test. He has joined a select group of Indian pacers since 2002 in taking two wickets off the first over in Test cricket. Previously, this was done by Irfan Pathan when he made history by taking a hat-trick against Pakistan within the first over of the Karachi Test in 2006. Pathan had pushed Pakistan on the back foot in that match by dismissing the opening batsmen to the pavilion.
Now, precisely 18 years after that in the year 2025, Nitish Reddy has replicated this rare accomplishment on the Lord’s turf. He provided India with an excellent start by getting rid of Ben Duckett on the third delivery of his first over and Zak Crawley on the sixth ball. On both occasions, Rishabh Pant took top-notch catches behind the wicket.
