The day Australians forgot easy methods to boo: Nitish Reddy’s ‘very, very particular’ ton unites bickering, cricket-mad nations | Cricket Information

It was a day of completely satisfied tears on the Melbourne Cricket Floor, probably the most hallowed cricketing venue in Australia. The daddy would bawl past the boundary, the eyes of the mom and sister too had been moist, and round them grownup women and men had been shedding tears. Within the commentary field, Ravi Shastri’s eyes went moist.

How might one not get emotional? Proper in the long run, when he was on 99, the match state of affairs, the place Australia had been nonetheless effectively forward (India ended the day at 358 for 9, 116 runs behind Australia), didn’t matter. The sport and the truth that the sequence was on line didn’t matter. Simply that one run mattered. Nothing else.

It was a few younger man who has been India’s discover of the tour and earned the respect and admiration from powerful followers of a sun-baked nation who’ve constantly booed Mohammad Siraj by way of the sequence and who had booed Virat Kohli on Thursday when he got here to bat in addition to after being dismissed.

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The Reddy household has been a bundle of feelings as we speak. Witness the magical second as they embrace Nitish after he wowed the world together with his extraordinary maiden Check century on the MCG.

A day etched in reminiscences… pic.twitter.com/uz9mrASuRm

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 28, 2024

The identical Australians had been clapping, shouting, and keen the younger Indian on. It was fairly surreal. It was a celebration of the game in some methods – a younger batsman, who has gone about his recreation with nice poise and character, was on the verge of one thing particular. And the Australians, too, had recognised it, cottoned on to the second.

Typically, sport can transcend boundaries, borders, and make adults go weak within the knees. Later at a pub close to the bottom, a typical post-MCG hang-out ‘Mountain View’, a couple of Aussies really raised a toast, saying “to your younger Indian fella, you need to be so proud mate. For a second there, we forgot it was Siraj with the bat and had been hoping that he too would survive – only for the younger Reddy!”

Pleasure would ultimately descend on the Indians on the MCG and in addition past it, for extra particular causes. For Reddy-gaaru. “Have you ever observed that Telugu-speaking cricketers have an important file and relationship with Australia? VVS Laxman, Mohammad Azharuddin, and now on that listing joins Nitish Kumar Reddy!” an emotional 73-year previous Gopal Tangirala, founding chairperson of Australia Telugu Group and Cultural Centre, tells The Indian Categorical.

And even Shivlal Yadav, born and introduced up in Hyderabad, whose 52 of 102 Check wickets got here towards Australia. “Nitish appears to have the identical type of composure, expertise, persona, and a friendliness about him – similar to Laxman. I’ve met Azhar and in addition Laxman a couple of occasions. Identical to Laxman, Nitish Reddy has been a thorn in Australia’s flesh all sequence, hasn’t he?!” Tangirala provides.

There are no less than 22,000 Telugu-speaking households within the state of Victoria, the place Melbourne is situated, in accordance with Tangirala. “I might say over 50,000 folks simply. Nitish’s gutsy efficiency makes us all proud, not simply us, all of India! Not a shock his dad and mom had been in tears, all of us had been!”

Nitish Kumar Reddy hits his maiden Check century and receives a standing ovation from the MCG crowd ❤️ #AUSvIND | #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/Vbqq5C26gz

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 28, 2024

However as the daddy stated, the previous moments had been of full “rigidity”. When Siraj was crushed off the primary ball he confronted from Pat Cummins, who had changed Nathan Lyon, after recognising that he needed to be the dangerous man, the kill-joy. And he tried his finest. Siraj poked on the first ball and it virtually tore away a slice of the bat. And the cries of ‘ooooohhhhh’ rang out on the MCG, which has seen probably the most controversial Bodyline sequence that, in some methods, created the barracking tradition of Aussies towards the opponents.

However this time the aural cry appeared like reduction that there was no wooden on the leather-based.

Till the second Washington Sundar fell for an equally-important 50, the temper was totally different for it had appeared it will be a cruise by way of to the hundred. The Aussies had been nonetheless hollering for a wicket and a big part of Indians had been virtually seemingly satisfied that the 2 children had been going to cruise. A hush fell across the massive part of a file third-day crowd of 83,073 when Sundar fell. Final time extra folks turned up for Day 3 at MCG was when Don Bradman, the best batsman to have performed the sport, was batting on 56 in a single day at finish of Day 2 within the Ashes Check of January 1937. He in fact hit an enormous hundred the subsequent day. However now the file crowd was unsure as Cummins – aside from at some point at Perth when Kohli and, by the way, Reddy had been blasting his assault – hadn’t let one second drift by and was hustling right down to stub out the enjoyment out of Indians. Unsurprisingly, he took down Bumrah.

Siraj walked in and even the Aussie followers, it appeared, had forgotten that they needed to ‘dislike’ him.

Darkish clouds hung round MCG. Cummins hurled a bouncer and Siraj ducked shortly. The Australian captain smiled, the group set free a thunderous applause. Reddy clapped, walked down the observe to say one thing. Siraj didn’t budge. Travis Head was at short-leg, the younger pup Sam Konstas was at foolish level. The slip cordon was packed. Cummins took a second on the prime of the run-up and charged in once more with that distinctive run-up of his, with each ft virtually threading the identical spot in a crooked method. MCG was exploding and holding its breath on the similar time, if that’s potential. Nevertheless it was that sort of day.

Prior to now, in Chennai, Siraj had held his floor memorably to let R Ashwin hit a particular hundred in Chennai. Now, he needed to do it for Reddy. And he leaned ahead to defend a size supply as compactly as he ever did and held his pose, head bent that might have made Sunil Gavaskar, who had earlier within the day lashed out towards Rishabh Pant for a false shot, proud. Konstas plucked the ball and threatened to throw down the stumps. Siraj didn’t even lookup. The gang that has booed him continually ever since his battle towards Head cheered – presumably for his survival. The second was getting completely surreal.

On the third ball of subsequent over from the hometown cult hero Scott Boland, who didn’t bowl a single unfastened ball all day, Nitish Kumar Reddy smashed it on the up and over to the sightscreen and calmly ran throughout to the opposite facet. Throughout him, the Indians and Australians had been dropping their heads. His household too. Not him, although. He quietly bent down on his proper knee, took his time to prop the helmet atop the bat, and pointed his finger in direction of the sky.

Siraj, who had run throughout excitedly, recognised that the second was of the youthful companion, and waited patiently earlier than enveloping him with the warmest hug one can think about – a hug that not simply Telugu-speaking folks, not simply Indians, however even the Australians appeared to wish to do. A hug of pleasure.

Typically, simply generally, cricket could make everybody concerned shed a tear. It was that sort of a day on the floor that’s lovingly shortened by the locals as simply ‘G’. The day Australians forgot easy methods to boo, and prolonged their arms large to hug and have a good time a 21-year previous Indian child at their most-prized cricketing venue: Reddy-Gaaru’s G.