Nitish Kumar Reddy youngest Indian centurion after Tendulkar, Pant in Australia; the country’s first Down Under at no.8

Nitish Kumar Reddy became the first Indian batter to score a century in Australia while batting at no. 8 Saturday (December 28). The young all-rounder reached his first century in international cricket with a boundary well off Scott Boland in the final session on Day 3 of the fourth Test. The close to 80,000 spectators at the iconic MCG rose to applaud as Nitish took off his helmet, dropped to his knees and placed it on top of the handle to throw a salute to the sky. His father, who was present at the MCG when his son, 21, became the third-youngest Indian to score a Test century in Australia, clapped and cheered with the thousands of Indian fans to celebrate what has been an innings of class, grit, quality and determination.

Questions were raised and eyebrows raised when Nitish was first picked for the Australia tour and then made debut in the series opener in Perth, but the Andhra Pradesh cricketer proved the doubters with his consistent performances in the lower order.

Picked as the lone seam bowling all-rounder, Nitish did a restraining job with the ball but was unable to provide the breakthrough that a fourth seamer would normally do. This once again raised questions about his place in the Indian XI. But head coach Gautam Gambhir backed the 21-year-old. So much was the Indian team management’s confidence in Nitish that they decided to stick with the right-hander even ahead of Shubman Gill.

India wanted Washington Sundar in the side for the Boxing Day Test and instead of dropping Reddy, they decided to bench Gill. The move was heavily criticized in the first two days of the Test match, but on Day 3 both all-rounders rose to stitch a record 100-plus stand to not only save the follow-on but also give India a realistic chance of saving the fourth Test.

Nitish, who has the lowest false-shot percentage (according to Cricviz data) among all batsmen in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, played another chanceless innings that had grit, patience and a lot of class.

He broke Anil Kumble’s record for the highest score (87) by an Indian in Australia, batting no. 8 or lower, and also became the youngest after Sachin Tendulkar and Rishabh Pant to score a Test century in Australia.

Youngest at the time of maiden route century for India in Australia

18y 256d Sachin Tendulkar Sydney 1992

21y 92d Rishabh Pant Sydney 2019

21y 216d Nitish Reddy Melbourne 2024

22y 46d Dattu Phadkar Adelaide 1948

Highest score batting at no. 8 or below for India in Australia

105* Nitish Reddy Melbourne 2024

87 Anil Kumble Adelaide 2008

81 Ravindra Jadeja Sydney 2019

67* Kiran More Melbourne 1991

67 Shardul Thakur Brisbane 2021

Along with Sundar, Nitish pulled India from 221/7 to 358/9 when rain stopped play on Day 3.

The 129-run partnership that Nitish put on with Sundar is now the joint-highest for India for the 8th wicket in Australia, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh’s 2008 effort.

More to follow…