Gutsy Reddy's maiden ton keeps India afloat

Melbourne, PTI: Nitish Reddy, an unknown entity in red ball cricket before the start of Border-Gavaskar series, virtually bailed India out with his dogged maiden Test century here on Saturday, severely denting Australia's hopes of winning the Boxing Day contest. Reddy's unbeaten 105 took India to 358 for nine, still 116 runs short of Australia's first innings score of 474 as rain brought an early end to the third day's play. With the flat MCG deck not offering much to the bowlers, saving the Test match shouldn't be a big deal for India.

Reddy, easily India's 'find of the series', played a pivotal role in visitors' fightback. Reddy's combative spirit and the invaluable 127-run stand he shared with Washington Sundar (50 off 162 balls) proved to be the turning point for the hosts. Reddy's innings was termed as one of greatest Test knocks by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar given the situation as India were in a precarious position after Rishab Pant's dismissal courtesy a rash shot had left India tottering at 191 for six. The Andhra batter could have been stranded on 99 when Jasprit Bumrah got dismissed, leaving Reddy with last-man in Mohammed Siraj, who walked in to another round of boos and faced three deliveries from home skipper Pat Cummins. Both Reddy and his father Muthyala's expressions changed with each ball but Siraj survived to allow Reddy savour the moment he must have dreamt a thousand times.

A picture-perfect straight drive off Scott Boland was the moment of the series for India as Reddy balanced his helmet with the bat and took a knee, expressing his gratitude towards the Indian dug-out which gave him a standing ovation. The 21-year-had struck the 'Pushpa' pose after completing his fifty and aced the 'Salaar' pose to celebrate the century. A decade back, when his father Muthyala left a secured job to open a micro-finance (lending) business and incurred losses, the Reddy family was advised not to give wings to young Reddy's cricketing dreams but they were unrelenting. Sitting in the stands near the boundary, Reddy's father broke down when his son achieved the milestone.

As Indian fans clicked selfies with him it must have reminded of the day when his son received the best U-16 cricketer award from the BCCI in 2017, and an impressionable Reddy was seen clicking selfie with his idol Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma while leaving the hotel premises.

Scoreboard:

Australia: 474 India 1st Innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal run out (Cummins/Carey) 82 Rohit Sharma c Boland b Cummins 3 KL Rahul b Cummins 24 Virat Kohli c Carey b Boland 36 Akash Deep c Lyon b Boland 0 Rishabh Pant c Lyon b Boland 28 Ravindra Jadeja lbw b Lyon 17 Nitish Kumar Reddy not out 105 Washington Sundar c Smith b Lyon 50 Jasprit Bumrah c Khawaja b Cummins 0 Mohammed Siraj not out 2 Extras: (LB-2, NB-4, W-5) 11 Total: (For 9 wickets in 116 overs) 358 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-51, 3-153, 4-154, 5-159, 6-191, 7-221, 8-348, 9-350 Bowling: Mitchell Starc 25-2-86-0, Pat Cummins 27-6 -86-3, Scott Boland 27-7-57-3, Nathan Lyon 27-4-88-2, Mitchell Marsh 7-1-28-0, Travis Head 3-0-11-0.