Melbourne: Nitish Kumar Reddy is already making waves in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy with consistent performances. The right-handed batter levelled up his performance on Saturday by smashing a hundred on the second day of the Melbourne Test. Nitish completed his century by smashing a delivery from Scott Boland straight over his head for four runs. The 21-year-old celebrated the hundred by plating his bat on the ground and then placing his helmet on it.
He became the first Indian batter to score a hundred for India in Australia while batting at No.8 or below. He surpassed Anil Kumble's score of 87 in Adelaide in 2008. Also, the Indian all-rounder became the first Indian batter to smash a Test hundred in Melbourne since 2020 after Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane had played a knock of 112 four years back which changed the course of the series later on. Also, Nitish became the highest scorer for India while batting at No.8 in Australia in Test cricket surpassing Anil Kumble's score of 87 in Adelaide in 2008. Ravindra Jadeja has played a knock of 81 runs in 2018-19 at the Gabba and Shardul Thakur is at number four with a knock of 67 runs in 2020-21 in Sydney.
What a moment this for the youngster!
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 28, 2024
A maiden Test 100 at the MCG, it does not get any better than this 👏👏#TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/KqsScNn5G7
Nitish became the third youngest Indian cricketer to register a century in Australia. Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest batter smashing a century at the age of 18 years and 253 days in Sydney in 1992. Rishabh Pant is the second youngest batter smashing a century at the age of 21 years and 91 days in Sydney in 2019.
Nitish entered the middle after Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed and India were at 221/7. The right-handed batter then stitched a brilliant innings with the help of some incredible shots during his stay at the crease. He forged an alliance with Washington Sundar to recover the Indian innings.
Washington also played a stellar knock in the middle and scored a fifty. He played a crucial role in steadying the ship for the Indian team after they were reduced to 191/6.
