Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.

Nelson said, “I was playing cricket.”

Nelson said that he had been playing cricket.

The correct answer is OPTION 3 - Nelson said that he had been playing cricket.

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, the tense of the verb usually changes. Here, "I was playing cricket" in direct speech needs to be changed to the past perfect continuous tense "he had been playing cricket" in indirect speech.