Sunrisers Hyderabad, despite not firing at their best, find themselves in the top-four in the ongoing Indian Premier League. Even as the veteran pacers have struggled, injury concerns have sidelined several overseas players and Travis Head is yet to hit top gear, Sunrisers Hyderabad have still had different players step up at different moments across six games - even if it has yielded only three wins.

While the young bowling attack, comprising Ehsan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Shivang Kumar and Praful Hinge have had their moments, it is Nitish Reddy's all-round contribution that has quietly slipped the attention but been important in SRH's campaign this season.

The biggest highlight has been the way he has stepped up with the ball at various stages of the match - Powerplay, middle overs and death, often to fill in for the void left in SRH's bid to go all guns blazing with the bat. The most significant of those performances came against Chennai Super Kings in SRH's last encounter where they fell one bowler short and required the fifth bowler's quote to be fulfilled by all-rounders.

Reddy stood up to the challenge and returned figures of 2 for 31 from his four-over spell, bowling in the Powerplay as well as the death, as SRH defended their 194-run total by 10 runs. Reddy set the platform for SRH's win by dismissing Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre.

All of Reddy's four wickets this season have come while bowling the good length and the back of the length deliveries. He has also conceded only 77 runs in the 57 balls bowled on those lengths (economy rate of 8.1). He has been significantly less effective while going full or short.

James Franklin, SRH's assistant coach, heaped praise on Nitish's improvement as a cricketer, but added that there would be a need for him to remain consistent. "It's great to see Nitesh play the way he's been playing so far in this year's IPL," Franklin said on Monday, on the eve of SRH's clash against Delhi Capitals, in Hyderabad. "Last year he probably, by his own admission, didn't quite play at the level that he would expect out of himself. I think last year was a really good learning year for him.