Nitish Kumar Reddy scores maiden Test ton to save India's trembling batting line-up against Aussies

After India's batting line-up faltered against the mighty Australians, India's young gun and debutant of the series, Nitish Kumar Reddy walked in like a hero and scored a century, one to remember for the ages.

Having restricted the hosts at 474 in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test, India did have a good start with the bat, powered by Yashaswi Jaiswal. But soon, a collapse awaited for the visitors, having lost 5 wickets on Day 2 itself.

Nitish Kumar Reddy saved the flickering hope of millions of Indian fans and went to score a 100 in 171 balls, as he stood strong on one end and built a strong 100-run partnership with Washington Sundar.


Nitish Kumar Reddy got to his maiden Test century in dramatic fashion when he lofted a Scott Boland ball over mid-on for a boundary. Reddy had just seen Jasprit Bumrah depart in the previous over and Mohammed Siraj was the last man in. The youngster was on 99 not out at the time. After a few nervous moments, the all-rounder finally reached the much awaited milestone with his teary-eyed father in the stands.

To add to the drama, the light was deteriorating fast and all eyes were on the umpires. Reddy's century not only saved team India from an embarrassment but also gave its bowlers rest.

Reddy came to the crease when India was struggling at 191/6 and staring down a follow-on. Reddy and Sundar not only avoided the follow-on, but have also played out time as India ended the day at 358/9 at stumps on Day 3.

India started Day 3 on the backfoot after having lost three wickets in the last 20 minutes of day 2 to be reduced to 164/5. Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant could not bat as long as the team would have liked in the morning.