Nitish Kumar Reddy was the savior of the Indian team, as his maiden Test century helped the side recover from a precarious position in the ongoing 4th BGT 2024 Test in Melbourne. Notably, Australia had posted 474 runs with Steve Smith scoring 140 runs and fifties from 3 other players.
India, meanwhile, had ended day 2 on 164/5 with Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten. But after a short partnership, both Pant (28) and Jadeja (17) got out, leaving India 221/7.
Then Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar got together and added 127 runs for the 8th wicket. Their partnership saw Sundar scoring 50 runs, before getting out to Nathan Lyon.
However, Nitish continued, even as wickets fell at the other end, and completed an amazing maiden Test century. He scored 105* as India ended day 3 on 358/9 as bad light brought an early closure to the play.
Nitish Reddy’s father Mutyala Reddy was present in Melbourne and seated near the boundary ropes as he watched his son script an amazing knock that saved India major blushes. Nitish’s father celebrated his son’s Test century from close quarters and even shed tears when the moment happened.
Nitish Reddy took to social media to thank his father and took to X and Instagram to show his gratitude for his sacrifices. He wrote "This's one for you dad', reposting something on X and Instagram.
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But reaching this stage was not easy, at least not until Nitish realized the meaning of the sacrifices his father continued to make while backing his son's dream to play for India.
"To be honest, I was not serious when I was young. My father left his job for me and there has been a lot of sacrifice behind my story. One day, I saw him crying because of the financial problems we were facing, and I was like, 'This is not how you can be'. Then I got serious. I gave my first jersey to him and saw the happiness in his face,” Reddy had told BCCI.tv.
Nitish Reddy proved his worth in IPL when Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him for his base price in IPL 2023. But in IPL 2024, Reddy showed his true colors and excelled as a batter for SRH and was rewarded with the Emerging Player award for his performance.
In October this year, he made his international debut against Bangladesh in a T20I and then was retained by SRH for a contract worth Rs 6 crore. He scored a scintillating half-century against Bangladesh as well. This led to his Test call-up for India for the Australia tour and he made his Test debut in the first Test in Perth.
