Dinesh Karthik Praises Tilak Varma and Nitish Reddy After India’s Thrilling T20 Win

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik expressed his delight at Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s performances in India’s second T20I against New Zealand. Speaking in Telugu during an interview, Karthik praised the two Telugu players for stepping up under pressure and making important contributions to the team’s victory. He highlighted Tilak’s ability to recover from a cautious start, accelerate his scoring and guide India through a challenging run chase. Karthik also described Nitish’s unbeaten innings as a memorable performance in his career. He noted that T20 matches played on pitches where teams score around 160 to 180 runs often demand greater skill and decision-making than high-scoring contests, as batters must carefully choose which deliveries and bowlers to target.

In the match, New Zealand scored 180 for five in 20 overs, with half-centuries from Glenn Phillips and Bevon Jacobs. Arshdeep Singh took two wickets for India, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav and Nitish Reddy claimed one each. India lost early wickets as Sanju Samson scored 14 and Abhishek Sharma made 27. Tilak Varma then anchored the chase, completing his half-century in 25 balls, while Naman Dhir contributed a quick 31 off 17 deliveries. Nitish Reddy remained unbeaten on 26 off 13 balls, helping India reach the target. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner took four wickets.