Nitish Kumar Reddy was horrified. He was 85 off 119 when a spell of rain forced the players off the field. When they came back on, the ball started decking around a bit. So he decided he would start again. Pretend he was on 0. He took 48 deliveries to score his next 12 runs and then, with a maiden Test century just one hit away, he saw one land right in his hitting arc and he just couldn’t resist. The ball went straight up in the air.
This was the MCG. More than 80,000 people were watching. Millions more back home. All of them were waiting. He might have been as well. Not just through the course of this innings or this tour. The fact that he’s here in an India shirt means he’s been going to bed almost every night dreaming of this moment. Some mistakes help people grow, but this one…
The leading edge spiralled off over cover and landed just beyond Pat Cummins’ reach. Reddy went from 97 to 99 with his hand clutching the top of his helmet.
A scoop shot inside the first hour of play on day three had brought him out to the middle. It felt like that shot would define the play; possibly even the whole Test. As Rishabh Pant walked off the field, he flipped his bat around and stared at the toe-end. That’s where he’d made contact with the ball. The argument in favour of these shots, usually, is imagine if it had come off. Okay. Sure. He would have got four, maybe six runs. That still would have left Australia with 279 more in the bank.
That’s why the risk wasn’t worth it. Not because of the shot. Not because it backfired. But because, at that time, India would have gained little with its success but they would lose a lot with its failure.
“He should not be going into that dressing room,” Sunil Gavaskar said on ABC Radio. “He should be going into the other dressing room.”
Reddy walked into this tumult and restored order. But on 99, he was stuck at the non-strikers’ end, watching India lose their ninth wicket and dark clouds gathering out in the west.
Will Mohammed Siraj’s defence hold out? It almost didn’t. Cummins beat his outside edge the very first ball. Will the rain stay away? It had been the first spanner in the works; until that shower that prompted an early tea, Reddy was going at a strike rate of 71. After the intrusion, it dropped to 35. It was a necessary adjustment, but now…
Siraj ducked under a Cummins bouncer and immediately Reddy brought his bat up and with one hand and punched it with the other. One more ball till he would be back on strike. Siraj defended it and held the pose.
Reddy’s father was at the MCG. In 2016, he had left his job because it would have taken him and his family out of station at the wrong time. His 13-year-old son had just been picked by the Andhra Cricket Association for the district-level trials. Mutyalu couldn’t bring himself to go. He couldn’t do that to his son. He could never have known that the sacrifice would pay off this handsomely. He was in tears when the hundred finally came, falling back into the crowd behind him, clutching his hands together in prayer.
Reddy, meanwhile, went down on one knee on the same turf that Shane Warne had picked up his 700th Test wicket. He planted his bat down into the same outfield where India had piled into Ravi Shastri’s Audi and ridden around to celebrate winning the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket final. He plonked his helmet on top of the handle, and went down on one knee to recreate the hero’s pose from the movie Bahubali.
“It’s a celebration. He’s killed it, honestly,” Washington Sundar said at the end of the day’s play. “I’m sure he’s got many more up his sleeve and it’s just a matter of him getting many more hundreds.”
The MCG has been vibing with a 19-year-old all this time, Sam Konstas’ scoops also receiving much air time. Now they were all in thrall of a 21-year-old. Reddy was comfortable facing Mitchell Starc. He shrugged off a blow from Cummins. He wouldn’t be tempted by the wiles of Scott Boland. And he was driving Nathan Lyon inside out against the turn even when he was new at the crease.
Strokeplay like that can stand just on its own but Reddy has been able to bat like this despite India almost always being in trouble and looking to him to help bail them out. They were 73 for 6 in Perth and he took them up to 150. They were 87 for 5 and 105 for 5 in Adelaide when he made his previous highest Test score in one innings and matched it in the other. They were 191 for 6 in Melbourne and he took them past 300.
Reddy was able to do what Pant couldn’t. Just bat according to the situation. India needed a partnership and there was nothing preventing them from achieving one. The pitch was friendly enough. The bowling was good but not threatening. Really the only chances Australia had to pick up a wicket – until the ill-timed scoop – were a couple of mix-ups.
India’s selectors made a big call picking a youngster who was averaging 21 after 21 first-class matches. But really, his presence here is down to how he did not look out of place facing international quality bowlers in the IPL, down to how many of his strongest scoring options also involve presenting a very straight bat. There was an on-the-up drive down the ground against Boland, who was running in with the second new ball, that was very much “I know what I’m doing”. With time running out and his heart beating out of his chest, he played another one, a more emphatic one, to bring up his century.
“I’m sure this will be remembered forever,” Washington said. “One thing about Nitish is, no matter what he is doing, on the field off the field, he’s going to give his 120%. That’s his approach to life not just cricket. I saw him quite closely during the IPL as well. His work ethic and the things that he would do before every game, around games, was something very, very pleasing for all of us to watch and we knew something very special was going to come around the corner.”
India will be delighted with these runs; the circumstances around them; the method in them. Most of the team, led by captain Rohit Sharma, was out by the dugout clapping and cheering along with the crowd. Eighty-five thousand got really into the cricket once again, except this time their appreciation was directed at the batter, they were salivating over what he had already done and what he still could do.
