I felt like I had 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.

"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. I have asked him for 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.

"Coming to this tour also, 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 or two years now,"