As India’s tour of Australia has worn on, the coverage has become preoccupied with fading veterans – Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli – and speculation about whether somebody’s decent score is a last hurrah, or if a lack of one is a terminal sign. A preoccupation with whether body language or temper tantrums or patterns of dismissal mean one thing or another, whether any of these interpretations can tell us how much longer they can push on, or how close to the end they might be.
Sport obsesses about retirements, about endings. Will a player will finish on their terms or carry on too long? God forbid they are forced out too soon. Perhaps these are symbolic little deaths, a way to come to grips with the idea in life. The sporting version of kids getting a rabbit or a budgie. But the tendency strays into the ghoulish, hanging noses over the fence to stare at great players and waiting for them to drop. The enjoyment of what a player does can be lost in wondering what they might do next.
So while the focus has been on the elders, it only became clear during the fourth Test in Melbourne that the story of this series is being written by the young. There was Sam Konstas on day one, wowing the crowd in his brief but furious attacking burst, then Nitish Kumar Reddy on day three, with an innings of far more significance and substance to reach his first Test century. At 358 for 9 answering Australia’s 474, he has taken India from almost certain defeat to some hope of salvation.
From his debut a month ago, Reddy immediately showed signs that he has what it takes. Only 21, he already had a name for himself in India after some huge scores in age-group cricket and a good IPL season with the bat earlier this year, though his seam bowling got smashed. Meanwhile, his handful of first-class fixtures for domestic minnow state Andhra have been underwhelming with the bat but encouraging with the ball. Fortunately, India’s selectors divined enough to get him into the squad and then into the XI to start the series.
Starting his tour in Perth, Reddy had the range to top score with 41 in the first innings when India was sunk, last man out, then punch the bruise in the second innings when India had got on top, 38 not out from 27 balls. In Adelaide, top score again, both innings, with 42. No support again, last man out and then second last. Even in Brisbane where he only made 16, he batted an hour and a quarter as India ground towards avoiding the follow-on, key to them escaping with a draw.
So in Melbourne it was a similar story: trailing by 283 on the first innings when he came in at six wickets down. He had the same advantage as he had enjoyed in most of his innings, namely a free hit given India’s precarious position. Yet, this time, he had something new: a partner with proper batting credentials in Washington Sundar.
The pacing of Reddy’s innings was measured beautifully. Even so far behind the game, he made it a point immediately to be busy, looking to work shots into gaps rather than just defend. He called loudly and ran hard, often completing threes and at one point a four. He wasn’t fussed about boundaries, hitting only a few in his first half-century, though as in Perth he made a point of dynamic footwork to Nathan Lyon, sometimes defending on the march but at one point lofting him for six.
Most impressive was his handling of pace, surviving Pat Cummins’ hostility and Scott Boland’s probing. Cummins used the short ball in a fashion that seemed all the more nasty for how much it was measured, snorting a couple per over up armpits and nostrils in a visceral display, in between pitching further up to beat edges repeatedly. Reddy took the hits, rode the bounce, kept some down and let some pass with a stylish sway away. His physical presence was about showing that he was up to the challenge.
It was tough, all day long, through the wicketless second session and deep into the third. Reddy had a few moments of luck, including a bizarre leading edge from an attempted leg glance that somehow flew behind the batter in exactly the opposite direction, to second slip. Smith was so flummoxed by it finding him there that he couldn’t hang on. But mostly Reddy was the one in control, fighting to stay there every ball. It never got easy, but he never wavered.
At least until reaching 97, when his stoic partner Washington was finally out for an even 50. Suddenly nerves packed the stadium. With significantly more than 80,000 people at the MCG for the third day running, these doubts reflected in the player. Reddy turned down singles that would have exposed Jasprit Bumrah and obviously didn’t have a clear enough chat before the last ball of an over, when Bumrah ran a panicked two instead of the single that would have kept the senior man on strike.
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This gave Cummins a full over at Bumrah, who duly nicked the third ball, prompting bedlam as Reddy was reunited with Siraj. India’s jack managed to defend his stumps for the final three balls, and as much as Australian supporters had been roaring for the wicket, the roar of appreciation when Reddy smoked a straight four was even louder. Applause and respect for the skill and courage of a young star on the rise.
The only thing sport coverage loves as much as retirements is arrivals. Getting into a lather about young players, the thrill of the new. Most of them aren’t able to stay at the top. Washington was that guy for India last time, in Brisbane 2021, and has barely played since. Australia in recent years celebrated young openers in Matthew Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft, Will Pucovski, all of whom have now vanished from the Test arena.
Reddy’s career from here might be anything. His time might be long or short. What we can say is that his work on this day was astonishing, a kid who recently received his 21st birthday key using it to unlock his method. The skill, the composure, and the degree of difficulty, means it’s an innings that should sit in the top tier of MCG centuries. From here who knows? Resuming on 105 on the fourth morning, Siraj might help him add a few more. At 116 runs behind, India are not entirely out of this match.
