Melbourne: It was an absolute theatre at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday (28 December) when Nitish Kumar Reddy realised his dream. The dream of scoring his maiden Test hundred and it couldn’t have come at a better venue. In front of 83,073 fans, including a very emotional father who kept praying with hands folded, the youngster went down on one knee and struck a ‘Bahubali’ pose. Reddy Sr., meanwhile, had his arms up in the air and took a huge sigh of relief as loud cheers erupted in the stands celebrating what was a sensational knock under pressure.
Over 2,50,000 people have already walked through the turnstiles at the MCG in anticipation of a blockbuster clash. They would have hoped to cheer for a Virat Kohli hundred or a Travis Head special but little did they know that the loudest cheer of the match, so far, would be for a young Reddy. It was deafening at the ‘G on Saturday when the young gun reached the milestone.
There were some nervy moments in the 90s when he saw Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah take the long walk back but Mohammmed Siraj ensured his young teammate wasn’t left stranded on 99 and received his loudest cheer on Australian soil when he blocked Pat Cummins‘ last delivery. Two dots and a boundary later, the wait ended in Scott Boland’s over as he deservingly soaked in the rapturous applause from over 80,000.
It wasn’t easy out there as India were in all sorts of trouble at 191/6. The madness in the last session on Day 2 handed the advantage back to Australia and it continued as Rishabh Pant played a shocking shot during a delicate situation in the match.
In walked Reddy, India’s crisis man in this series, and went about doing his business with a lot of confidence and clarity.
Reddy’s game is modelled on balance and the positions he gets into are nearly perfect. He has trigger movements – both forward and backward – but they are very small and that allows him to maintain that exquisite balance even while keeping the weight a bit more on the front foot.
The youngster, however, doesn’t stick to one trigger movement and keeps switching between forward and backward to different bowlers, and sometimes in the same over. It’s the balance which is not compromised during the switch and the body alignment allows him to get into very correct positions while executing a shot or a defence.
There are occasions when he makes aggressive use of footwork but it’s more like a walk towards the quicks and a well calculated step-out versus the spinners. Something which Australia tried to restrict by having wicketkeeper Alex Carey step up for Scott Boland.
Against spin, however, there is no trigger and he holds position and effortlessly transfers weight as per the length.
The approach is very simple and the small movements have allowed him to go a long way in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The series has majorly seen a very free-flowing Reddy because he has run out of support from the other end more often than not but the Brisbane knock, where he scored a patient 61-ball 16 and stitched a very crucial partnership with KL Rahul, showed his Test class. Before that, he had four 40s in the series and most of those runs came while batting with the tail.
Brisbane was the first test of his solidity and even though he didn’t get the big runs, the manner in which he battled was a reminder that Reddy is ready for the big stage.
The biggest stage was lined up next and in the Boxing Day Test, the right-hander has already been in the middle for 60 overs and will look to fire on all cylinders when he comes out to bat on the fourth morning.
He is 21, on his first tour Down Under but has not once looked overawed by the challenge. No wonder he is the side’s leading run-getter in the series and looks poised to have plenty of ‘Pushpa’, ‘Bahubali’ celebrations in future.
As far as Reddy senior is concerned, he certainly needs to get used to both tension and attention as his son is definitely here to stay!
