After starting all five of his innings in the first three Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Nitish Kumar Reddy finally recorded his maiden fifty on the third day of the fourth Test between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
41 off 59 and 38* off 27 in Perth, 42 off 54 and 42 off 57 in Adelaide and 16 off 61 in Brisbane – Reddy looked comfortable and assured every time he came out to bat in all three first tests, but could not touch the 50 point mark for various reasons. The main reason is lack of support from the lower order.
The impressive thing is that he made all these runs under pressure and when he came to bat in the first session on December 28 (Saturday), the situation was no different. India were 191/6, having lost their overnight batter Rishabh Pant, with Ravindra Jadeja following suit 30 runs later.
Reddy has the lowest fake shot percentage in this series (minimum four innings), so it came as no surprise when the right-hander started collecting runs with ease early on in his innings. The 21-year-old announced his arrival with a superb straight strike off the bowling of Nathan Lyon and continued to seize every opportunity to score.
He even danced around the floor and hit Lyon for maximum ground striking. It was his eighth six of the series – the most by an away hitter in a series Down Under. Reddy got support from Washington Sundar at the other end, which made him realize that he didn't have to strain with every delivery.
Reddy's confidence was visible when he attempted a reverse sweep in the penultimate over of the 80th over, just two deliveries before the second new ball was available. It was against Mitchell Starc – half-volley outside off – Reddy reached his half-century with cover lifted for a boundary.
When he was picked for the tour of Australia, Reddy averaged around 20 with the bat. His selection was made largely on the basis of his average pace, but after four Tests in the series, the right-hander has already scored almost 250 runs at an average well above 50.
