Nitish Kumar Reddy became the first Indian batter to score a century in Australia while batting at No.8 on Saturday (December 28). The young all-rounder got to his maiden century in international cricket with a boundary off long on off Scott Boland in the final session of Day 3 in the fourth Test. The close to 80000 crowd at the iconic MCG stood up to applaud as Nitish took his helmet off, got down on one knee and placed it on top of the handle to throw a salute to the heavens. His father, who was present at the MCG when his son, 21, became the third youngest Indian to score a maiden Test century in Australia, clapped and cheered with the thousands of Indian fans to hail what has been an innings of class, grit, quality and determination.
There were questions asked and eyebrows raised when Nitish was first picked for the Australia tour and then handed debut in the series opener in Perth but the Andhra Pradesh cricketer proved the doubters with his consistent performances in the lower-order.
Picked as the lone seam-bowling all-rounder, Nitish did a holding job with the ball but wasn’t able to provide breakthroughs like a fourth seamer would generally do. This, once again, raised questions about his place in the Indian XI. But head coach Gautam Gambhir backed the 21-year-old. Such was the Indian team management’s confidence in Nitish that they decided to stick with the right-hander even ahead of Shubman Gill.
India wanted Washington Sundar in the side for the Boxing Day Test, and instead of dropping Reddy, they decided to bench Gill. The move was heavily criticised for the first two days of the Test match, but on Day 3, both all-rounders stood up to stitch a record 100-plus stand to not only save the follow-on but also give India a realistic chance of saving the fourth Test.
Nitish who has the lowest percentage of false shots (according to Cricviz data) among all batters in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, played another chanceless innings that had swagger, patience and a lot of class.
He broke Anil Kumble’s record for the highest score (87) by an Indian in Australia batting at No.8 or lower and also became the youngest after Sachin Tendulkar and Rishabh Pant to score a Test century 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
Highest score batting at No. 8 or below for India in Australia
105* Nitish Reddy Melbourne 2024
87 Anil Kumble Adelaide 2008
81 Ravindra Jadeja Sydney 2019
67* Kiran More Melbourne 1991
67 Shardul Thakur Brisbane 2021
Along with Sundar, Nitish dragged India from 221/7 to 358/9 as rain stopped play on Day 3.
The 129-run partnership that Nitish put on with Sundar is now the joint-highest for India for the 8th wicket in Australia, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh’s effort in 2008.
More to follow…
