Not Kishan or Abhishek: Irfan Pathan predicts this Indian player to hold SRH together
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan said India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy could play an important role in the batting line-up of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Hyderabad begin their campaign against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28. While focus remains on players like Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen and Liam Livingstone, Pathan said Reddy could provide balance after a dip in form last season.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Pathan said about NKR, "If he performs his role well, I think he can act as the glue in this unit, which is otherwise very ultra-aggressive. It will be interesting to see how Hyderabad counters this challenge. " He also pointed to the change in Reddy’s numbers from 2024 to 2025.
"We saw that his numbers dropped compared to the previous year. In 2024, he scored more than 300 runs and had a good strike rate. But what happened last year?
His runs almost halved to around 180, and his strike rate dropped to about 119. It is not like he was batting too low either. In about 7 out of 11 innings, he got opportunities around number four.
So, he was unable to capitalize on those chances," he added, as cited by the news agency ANI. Reddy had won the ‘Emerging Player of the Season’ award in 2024 after scoring 303 runs in 11 innings with two fifties at a strike rate of 143 and taking three wickets. In 2025, he managed 182 runs in 13 matches at an average of 22.