New Delhi: Nitish Kumar Reddy’s world had collapsed by the end of June. Set to make his international debut, a sports hernia ruled him out of Zimbabwe’s T20I tour of India in July as the newly crowned world champions look to rebuild after the Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma era.

All the hard work in domestic cricket and the impression made in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad had gone down the drain. But the 21-year-old was undeterred as he did everything he could to get back to 100% fitness to return to the team.

The batting all-rounder got another chance, this time he was selected for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. While Reddy didn’t get a chance to show his mettle on his debut in Gwalior as India registered an easy seven-wicket win, he came into his own on Wednesday with a brilliant 74 (34b, 4×4, 7×6).

The Andhra batsman, who scored a 15-ball 16 on Sunday, teamed up with southpaw Rinku Singh to give India an 86-run win – their highest against Bangladesh – and help the hosts Series 2 of three games to be sealed -0, with one more game to go in Hyderabad on Saturday.

When asked to bat, India put on 221/9 in 20 overs, which Bangladesh failed to match, and finished at 135/9.

Reddy, who was quickly included in the team after scoring an impressive 303 runs in 11 games to help Sunrisers Hyderabad finish second in the IPL, ran into trouble for India in the third over with both openers reaching 25/2 – Sanju Samson (10) and Abhishek Sharma (15) – were sent off. The situation worsened when Mustafizur Rahman (2/36) removed Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav (8).

Reddy and Rinku (53 off 29) decided to steady the ship and spent some time at the crease. Slowly the ones turned into twos and twos turned into boundaries as they started hammering the big ones.

Reddy was dropped by wicketkeeper Litton Das when he was five and used most of the break to repay the faith the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee had reposed in him when he played in only his second game for India cracked his first international half-century and ended up playing a game-changing innings. Reddy used his attacking best to beat the Bangladesh bowlers and not only bail India out but also lay the foundation for a huge total.

After reaching his half-century in 27 balls, Reddy accelerated before he was finally caught trying to go for the maximum in the 14th over, ending a brilliant 108-run stand with Rinku in 49 deliveries.

Rinku, who had so far played second fiddle to watching Reddy rampage, took it upon himself to hit five boundaries and three sixes to reach his third T20I term to the delight of the Delhi crowd at the Ferozeshah Kotla. All-rounder Hardik Pandya (32 off 19) hit some powerful shots towards the end to take India to 221/9.

Despite taking three wickets, Rishad Hossain conceded 55 runs in his four overs. Taskin Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2/16 in his fours, while Tanzim Hasan Sakib (2/50), who replaced Shoriful Islam, and Mustafizur Rahman (2/36) were also among the wickets.

In response, the Bangladesh batsmen appeared to wilt under the pressure against the Indian bowlers, as they did in the first contest when the visitors were bowled out for 127. Bangladesh continued to lose wickets at regular intervals as the Indian bowlers never allowed the batsmen to build a partnership. Only Mahmudullah (41 off 39) looked stable but the innings came late in the game. Plus, he never got any support from the other end.

The hero of the first game, spinner Varun Chakravarthy, added 2/19 to his three wickets in Gwalior. Reddy (2/20) made the day even more fruitful as he took his first two wickets in international cricket, defeating Tanzim (8) and Mahmudullah.

This was India’s 15th win in 16 matches against Bangladesh, their only defeat coming at the same venue five years ago, which was also their 1,000th. T20I was.