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Nitish Reddy had no plans of letting loose against his IPL skipper, Pat Cummins from the Sunrisers Hyderabad as he smashed a swashbuckling six in the 1st innings.
Nitish Reddy showcased his shot-making skills against Pat Cummins in the opening Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. (Image: AP)
Keeping their franchise cricket connections aside, India’s debutant, Nitish Kumar Reddy had no plans of holding back even against his skipper at the Sunrisers Hyderabad as the youngster smashed a swashbuckling maximum during Day 1 of the opening Test against Australia in Perth on Friday.
In the final delivery of the 48th over, the all-rounder from Vishakapatnam took on the shorter delivery and used the uppercut to send the ball flying over the third-man region for a maximum to help India get the scoreboard ticking and help the visitors save face.
Reddy was India’s shining light along with Rishabh Pant who scored 41 and 37 to help India avoid embarrassment after a disappointing effort from the team with the bat. The Andhra-based all-rounder stuck around till the end as India were bowled out for 150 runs in the first innings thanks to a fine four-wicket haul by Josh Hazlewood.
He had everything going against him. From making his debut to the precarious situation he was thrown into, it was not an easy start to his career by any means. Nonetheless, he persisted, stuck around fought it out for a valiant score and helped India keep themselves in the hunt.
Following his exploits with the bat, the Indian skipper, Jasprit Bumrah led the bowling charge to clear up the Aussie top-order with the wickets of Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney and Steve Smith cheaply.
Reddy’s fellow debutant, Harshit Rana also struck in the 12th over to get rid of Travis Head, who has historically been a figure that haunted the Indian team in recent years.
The Indian bowling unit will hope that they can continue their momentum and keep taking wickets to reduce Australia to a below-par score and keep their hopes of securing a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final on track.
For the Indian side to guarantee their spot, they would have to win four and draw one out of the remaining five Tests to seal their spot in their third consecutive final where Rohit Sharma and Co hope to finally have the elusive title.
- Location :
Perth, Australia
