When Nitish Kumar Reddy reached his first Test century, he struck the famous 'Baahubali pose for celebration. He reached that milestone off 171 balls on Saturday, December 28, during the Boxing Day Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He surpassed Mitchell Johnson's 92 against Sri Lanka in 2012 to become the first No. 8 hitter to reach 100 at the venue and also the first Indian number 8 batter to hit a century in Australia.
Pushpa celebration for fifty
Earlier, Reddy used the famous gesture from the Telugu film 'Pushpa' starring Allu Arjun, to celebrate his first Test fifty. Pushpa 2 was released in theatres on December 5 and has since dominated the box office. After reaching a significant career milestone, the right-handed batter brought out the epic celebration.
Nitish Reddy's historic ton
Nitish Reddy is the third youngest batter from India after Sachin Tendulkar and Rishabh Pant to hit a Test century in Australia. He is also the first Indian to bat at number 8 and hit a red-ball ton on Australian soil and the first visiting batter in history to hit a century in MCG while batting at that spot.
He was one of the most consistent players with bat for India in this series and made some crucial contributions down the order throughout this tour. However, he was unable to make those knocks big but in the Boxing Day Test at MCG, the young all-rounder smashed his maiden Test century. The Day 3 was called off early due to rain and bad light. However, India is 358/9 at stumps and they are still 116 runs behind with Nitish Reddy and Mohammed Siraj on the pitch.