“He still calls it cartoons” – Nitish Kumar Reddy on introducing anime to a teammate

Team India and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has made an interesting revelation about his teammate Abhishek Sharma, stating that the batter calls Japanese anime cartoons. Reddy added that Sharma calls it cartoon just to annoy him.

Nitish Kumar Reddy has a love for Japanese anime. He has made references on his official Instagram page that included phrases from the show Naruto. He has mentioned the word dattebayo, and called himself a future Hokage.

In a podcast hosted by Arjun Pandit for Puma, Nitish had the following to say about his affinity for anime. He said:

"Watching Anime is one of my favorite things. I have some (clothes). I have some action figures with me. "

When asked about introducing anime to anyone in the team, the 21-year-old replied:

"Not yet, Abhishek Sharma I tried. He actually still calls it cartoons, so I do not like when someone calls it cartoons. He'll come and say that Anime is cartoon. Before going to a match, I watch certain reels that I saved and watch them. He sits behind me and says 'Kya cartoon dekh rahe ho match ke pehle? (Which cartoon are you watching before the match?)'. I tried telling him to watch that but he doesn't."

Take a look at the interaction in the video below (from 1:11:33):

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"I really wanted his shoes" - Nitish Kumar Reddy shares his interaction with Virat Kohli in BGT 2024-25

Speaking on the same podcast, Nitish mentioned that batting ace Virat Kohli gifted him a pair of shoes which the all-rounder wore while scoring his maiden Test ton. He said (from 28:18):

"If you saw my 100, it weren't my shoes. Back in the locker room, he (Kohli) once asked Sarfaraz, 'Sarfu, what’s your shoe size?', and he said, '9'. Then he turned to me, and I thought, 'Oh my god, I have to guess this correctly' because even if they weren’t my size, I really wanted his shoes. I said, '10', and he gave them to me. In the next match, I wore those shoes and scored a hundred."

After recovering from a side strain suffered in the first T20I against England back in January this year, Nitish Kumar Reddy has joined SRH ahead of their season opener against Rajasthan Royals on March 23.