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Nitish Kumar Reddy became the third youngest Indian to score a test ton in Australia when he completed his maiden test ton on the third day of the Boxing Day test match at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday.
With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 hanging on a rope, Nitish came to bat when India needed him the most. India were struggling at 191/6 and were trailing by 283 in the first inning.
Along with Washington Sundar at the other end, Nitish Kumar Reddy started to build a partnership for the 8th wicket to bail India out of a tough situation. Reddy had already shown his capabilities with the bat with two 40+ scores in the series. But, this time, he had to do better for India to save the test match.
Reddy kept punching the bad balls on offer from the Australian bowlers and ran hard in between the wickets to slowly make things easier for the two all-rounders. Meantime, Sundar was solid at the other end, leaving the ball well and then finding gaps in between overs.
Nitish, who has the highest score of 442 as a batter during a U-16 tournament, completed his maiden fifty and did not forget to celebrate the "Pushpa" way to remember the occasion.
After his fifty, Reddy looked more confident and their 8th-wicket partnership crossed the 100 mark as well. But a rain interruption and the tea break broke their momentum and Australia somehow found a way to dry the run flow.
However, Sundar completed his fifty but soon after that lost his wicket, edging a bouncing ball to slip from Nathan Lyon. With only two wickets in hand, Reddy decided to take things under his control but took a double in the last ball of an over to keep himself off-strike at 99.
Bumrah could not face the whole over from Pat Cummins as he nicked off the third delivery of the Cummin's over. The tension could be seen in every corner of the ground and on Nitish's father as well, who was present on the ground, watching his son trying to reach a remarkable milestone.
Luckily for everyone, Mohammed Siraj played out the rest of the three balls from Cummins and Nitish completed his ton with a lofted drive over mid-off in the next over against Scot Boland.
With his ton, at 21 years and 216 days old, Nitish Kumar Reddy became the third youngest Indian to score a test ton in Australia.
Youngest at the time of maiden Test century for India in Australia
- 18y 256d Sachin Tendulkar, Sydney 1992
- 21y 92d Rishabh Pant, Sydney 2019
- 21y 216d Nitish Reddy Melbourne 2024
- 22y 46d Dattu Phadkar Adelaide 1948
"For our family, it's a special day:" Nitish's father
Post the hundred, a teary, Mutyala Reddy, Nitish's father expressed his feelings to Adam Gilchrist during an interview and thanked Siraj for playing out those three balls.
"For our family, it's a special day and we cannot forget this day in our life. He has been performing well since the age group of 14-15 and now in international cricket, it's a very special feeling."
On what were his emotions when Nitish was on 99 with one wicket remaining, he said, "I was very tensed. Only the last wicket was remaining. Thankfully Siraj managed to survive," he added.
The rain interrupted the day's play again and India are 358/9 at the moment. They are still trailing by 116 runs in the first inning.