Abhishek Reddy (Image Credit: Special Arrangement) NEW DELHI: Bedridden for years, forced to undergo two major surgeries and even warned by doctors that continued cricket could leave him paralyzed – most cricketers might have walked away and taken a different path. But Abhishek Reddy remained determined to pursue his cricketing dreams. Even as he lay in a hospital bed, he constantly drew strength from the poster of the great Sachin Tendulkar, which proclaimed, “Follow your dreams, they come true.”Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Only a few people knew his story until recently. That changed when the Andhra Pradesh opener smashed a double century (247) in the Ranji Trophy against Jharkhand, led his team to an innings victory in Jamshedpur and announced his arrival in style.
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Reddy started his domestic career with Karnataka in 2015 and scored his first-class debut with a composed half-century. But soon after, injuries struck — not once, but twice — and threatened to end his career before it really began.Now, after years of pain and patience, he is back on his feet – once again standing tall at the crease, stroking his signature cover discs and reclaiming the cricketing dream he refused to give up.“I was just 20 when I made my debut. There was pomp. I was young and there was a lot more fire in me. But the two surgeries really broke me. I’m really happy to be back where I always wanted to be,” said Reddy. TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.“I remember getting picked for Karnataka in 2015 and then playing and scoring for them. It was a star-studded team with Robin Uthappa, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Vinay Kumar and many other senior players. It was difficult to make my own place but I managed it with batting,” he said in Year 2 when I turned everything around in 16.0.
Abhishek Reddy (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)
“The injury happened in 2016. The outfield was wet and soggy and my leg got stuck driving into the field and I suffered a knee tear and a muscle tear. The second time it happened was in 2023 when I drove a second time and the same leg got stuck in the same place again. I had to have surgery again. The ACL injury took months to heal and recover. It was years of was giving up thoughts of moving away to rule my dreams,” said Reddy.“Abhimanyu Mithun – my teammate and my friend – was one of the people who helped me through that tough time. I spoke to him a lot when I was injured. He helped me with the mental side of the game,” he said.Reddy was part of the Karnataka Ranji Trophy team that lifted the title in the 2014-15 season. He represented Karnataka for several years before finally moving to Andhra Pradesh, his hometown.Even after his first surgery, his hunger to play and excel never faded. He continued to dominate the domestic tournaments and earned a place in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in the U-23 setup based on his performances in the CK Nayudu Trophy (U-23) – one of India’s most prestigious domestic tournaments for rookie players – during the 2014–15 season. He scored four consecutive centuries in that tournament: 174 against Tamil Nadu, 116 against Delhi, 115 against Mumbai and 103 against Rajasthan – a streak that firmly cemented his reputation as a prolific young batsman.
Abhishek Reddy (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)
So far he has appeared in 25 first-class matches and scored 1511 runs. And at 31, he firmly believes he still has plenty of fire left in him to follow – and live – his cricketing dreams. As he says, ‘Abhishek Reddy is not done yet.’“My mom is from Andhra and I played all my junior cricket in Karnataka. My father is a Karnataka. Karnataka gave me the foundation, the platform and the identity I have today. My parents’ dream was to see me become a cricketer and I worshiped the game – and still do. Andhra cricket supported me a lot. They always believed in me and supported me in my tough times.”“When I made my debut, I was around 20. Things would have been completely different today if the injuries hadn’t happened. Now I’m 31 and I’m happy with where I am. I’m still the same flamboyant Abhishek Reddy. I’m not done yet,” he added.
