"Virat, Ronaldo are not satisfied with what they're doing": SRH's Nitish opens up on inspiration from two legends

MUMBAI: Ahead of his side's Indian Premier League (IPL) game against Mumbai Indians (MI), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy opened up on his idols as an all-rounder and being inspired by Virat Kohli and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's mindset of not being satisfied with anything.

MI and SRH will be locking horns at Wankhede Stadium on Monday. MI is in desperate search of wins, sitting at the bottom of the points table with three wins and eight losses, giving them a total of six points. SRH is at the fourth spot with six wins, four losses and 12 points.

In seven matches and six innings this season, Nitish has scored 219 runs at an average of 54.75 and a strike rate of 154.22, with two half-centuries. His best score is 76*. He has also taken three wickets. The pace-bowler and batting all-rounder has been impressive this season for SRH, his second season with the Orange Army. He only got to play two games last season and had a few overs to bowl.

Ahead of the game, in a video posted on IPL's official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Nitish said that he always wanted to be an all-rounder and does not want to leave behind his ability to do well as a batter and bowler considering how rare it is in India. He also said that, as an all-rounder, it is hard on his fitness to be consistently great at all three disciplines.

"I always wanted to become a good all-rounder. In India, there are very few who can bowl, bat, or field. So I guess I am blessed with that. I have that ability. I do not want to lose that ability. I have been working on my fitness. It is a lot of hard work putting through this all-round stuff. So it is really hard for the recovery part--managing batting, bowling, fielding. So I have been managing with my fitness. So I guess in bowling, I need to do a little work on my bowling as well. So in coming years or in coming days, I will be a good all-rounder," said Nitish.

Nitish said that he has a lot of idols as all-rounders and wants to be a genuine all-rounder like England's Ben Stokes and Indian star Hardik Pandya.

"If you ask me about batting, I love AB de Villiers batting, shots and all. If you ask me about mentality and attitude, I like Virat's. My goal is to improve day by day, every day. Even at 1 per cent a day, if I improve, I will be the happiest person. So there are no personal goals, this or that. I want to just show my all-round performance."

"My idol is Cristiano Ronaldo. So I just follow him. I am a huge follower of him. We can watch Virat Bhai and Cristiano. Their mentality is like that. They are never satisfied with the things they are doing. They want to go beyond their usual levels. This pushes me a lot as well," he stressed.

Nitish also said that he does not want to be affected by his fame and become a one-season wonder. He also wants to be great at handling pressure.

"My mantra is only one thing: in India, you can see a lot of talented guys. There are so many players. But the thing is, whoever handles that pressure well, they are only going to be sustained. Virat is getting consistent runs because he can handle that pressure. So that is where you will stand tall. I want to handle that pressure well as a senior too," he concluded.