I felt like I have to improve the consistency in my bowling: Nitish Reddy

Nitish Reddy emerged from the opening day of the Lord's Test as India's highest wicket-taker. Brought on to bowl as early as the 14th over of the innings, he ended up bowling 14 overs, as many as Mohammed Siraj on the day, and returned with the wickets of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley - both in his first over.

The 22-year-old, the slowest of four Indian seamers on show, found appreciable swing and also held his lines and lengths through the day's play as India kept a lid on England's scoring. Nitish said this bowling consistency was something he's been striving for since the start of this tour, which began with an India A game and an intra-squad fixture.

Nitish spoke about the chats he had with his IPL captain Pat Cummins as well as the Indian team's bowling coach Morne Morkel. "Yeah, it's like after Australia tour, I felt like I have to improve my bowling and the consistency the most, that's what I looked at.

"And yeah, Pat is my captain and he has been brilliant in Australia and I have asked him some tips and he has been telling me how things would have been done in Australia, how can I go through in Australia. And that's a great experience for me, sharing with Pat Cummins.

"And yeah, coming to this tour also, I would say, working with Morne Morkel has been great for me. He's working with me for couple of weeks and, we are seeing good progress in my bowling, and I'm really enjoying working with him. We have been working on my consistency a lot, since I got some bit of swing both ways and I just want to be consistent over all areas. So we are working on that and I have been working hard on my bowling since one year or two years now," he added.

Nitish admitted that it had been tough for him to get his bowling loads up during the IPL and work up that rhythm after he sustained a side strain while playing against England in a T20I in January. He didn't bowl in the IPL at the start of the season and only began doing so in the nets during the latter stages of the tournament, eventually sending down just five competitive overs.

"Yeah, to be honest, after injury it's been a bit tough for me to get in my rhythm. Obviously I got a side strain and it [had] been a bit hurting me after the injury as well. So at the end of the IPL season, I got [back to] my bowling and started [getting] into the matches and I felt great," Nitish said.

"[Today] I just wanted to enjoy the moment and want to bowl what my team want from me. I guess that's what I have done exactly and pretty happy the way I bowled today. I just want to continue tomorrow and get some wickets."