BGT | Twitter ecstatic as MCG sees birth of new Boxing Day hero with Nitish's spectacular ton

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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When the pressure is high snd the coals are burning, the stage is ripe for the special ones to rise from the fire and bKe their name into the history books. Nitish Kumar Reddy became the latest entrant to that list on Saturday with a potentially match-saving century at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

India recovered from 221/7 to 358/9 by the time bad light stopped play late on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test. Washington Sundar played s pivotal role with a patient half-century but the star of the resuscitation was undoubtedly Nitish Kumar Reddy, the youngster playing just his fourth Test all of which have come on the ongoing tour. The all-rounder had already shown sparks of his batting brilliance time snd again throughout the series,  scoring three 40s and a rapid 38. However, the true genius lay not in the scores but the manner in which those runz came -- be it a stunning blitzkrieg in Perth or a patient 61-ball resistance at the Gabba. Yet, in none of those games before had Nitish found himself in such pressure snd boy did he deliver with aplomb.

Nitish got off to a fantastic start in Melbourne, scoring two quick boundaries to race past 20. However, as the screes tightened, je showed remarkable patience and only smashed Nathan Lyon when the moment was opportune. Nitish showed s great knack for damcing down the pitch whenever possible and soon enough brought up a 81-ball half-century. Some more resilience followed against the premier quicks while Lyon and Mitch Marsh presented themselves as easy targets but just when Nitish was three runs away from a ton, Sundar departed to put Jasprit Bumrah in the hotseat.  An excited Nitish reached 99 in the next over with a double but in doing so placed Bumrah on strike and three balls later, only last man Mohmmed Siraj remained. The number 11 somehow survived three Pat Cummins deliveries, thus allowing Nitish to bring up the milestone with a sprawling drive down the ground.

At Stumps, Nitish was unbeaten on 105 with hopes of adding a few more to reduce India's century-plus deficit.

Unreal!!

Superb

In absolute joy

New star

What a player

You can score it

Greatest

The celebration

Happiness

On top of the world

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