The last couple of days in the fourth of the five-match Test series in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 against India has been surrounded by only one player of India, Nitish Reddy, who has earned so much praise for his batting contribution at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), especially when their side was struggling.
India had already given away 474 runs in the first innings with a century from Steve Smith and quite a few fifties from Marnus Labuschagne and Sam Konstas. The tourists had a decent start in the batting department, but they kept on losing wickets in the middle order and found themselves seven down for 221 runs.
Nitish Reddy started aggressively, as he smashed a great knock of 42 runs in the first innings of the opening Test of the series at the Optus Stadium in Perth before he extended the same touch in the second innings.
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Most of the batters in the second day-night pink-ball affair at the Adelaide Oval struggled against the moving ball, Nitish Reddy had other plans as he pumped the Australian bowlers out of the park in both innings.
“A star on the horizon”- Syed Kirmani on Nitish Reddy
The stage was set for him to get a big score. The patience of leaving the balls outside the off-stump, from both him and Washington Sundar in the partnership was incredible, having already seen their veteran wicket-keeper batter of the side, Rishabh Pant, getting caught into the hands of the deep third-man region.
Sundar contributed immensely to his knock of 50 runs in 162 balls as he soaked the pressure and made the Australian bowlers toil hard in the middle for success. With his dismissal, the expectation from Nitish Reddy was to get a century, but he soon saw the return of Jasprit Bumrah, who edged into the hands of Pat Cummins in the second slip.
The entire pressure was on the last man, Mohammad Siraj, who walked out of the theatre. The first defensive shot, followed by another one against the short ball, raised hope, while the last defensive shot from him raised the voice of the spectators as the entire MCG went loud.
Nitish Reddy’s father was praying in the stands as his son defended the first ball of the new over from Scott Boland before swinging the willow for a straight boundary down the ground to celebrate his maiden Test century, second in first-class cricket.
The former wicket-keeper batter of India, Syed Kirmani, who won the best wicket-keeper award during their 1983 World Cup winning campaign, addressed the 21-year-old as a new star and expressed his best wishes for the future. He revealed that it’s not an easy job for someone to get a century in the debut series.
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“He is another star on the horizon, and he has a great start in the series. We hope he goes a long way. I congratulate him and wish him all the best. Scoring a century in the debut series and that also at the MCG is a matter of great honor, and I wish him all the very best.” Kirmani highlighted this during his short interaction with ANI.
Nitish Reddy finished with 114 runs with the help of 11 boundaries and one six at a strike rate of 60 and helped the side to reach 369, the score that at one position, looked impossible to get. The Andhra-born is the second-leading run-getter of the series, with 293 runs in six innings at an average of 58.60.