Nitish Reddy’s sister Tejaswi oozed pride after her beloved brother made his family proud with his stupendous efforts in the Boxing Day Test against Australia. On Saturday, December 28, Nitish became the first No.8 batter to smash a Test hundred at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. He also joined Sachin Tendulkar and Rishabh Pant amongst the youngest Indians to score a Test century on Australian soil.
Nitish eventually scored 114 runs off 189 balls with 11 fours and a six before Nathan Lyon dismissed him in the first session on Day 4. The 21-year-old helped India reduce their first innings deficit to 105 after India lost six wickets for 191 while going after Australia’s mammoth 474.
During the lunch break, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar met Nitish’s family where the all-rounder’s father Mutyala and sister were also present. Nitish’s sister recalled that the duo shared a bond similar to Tom and Jerry. But she also praised him for fulfilling his promise of making her proud.
“We share a Tom and Jerry kind of bond, but we love each other from inside. We don’t show it much, but we love each other. I am a very proud sister. He always used to say, ‘I will make you proud one day’ and yesterday was that day,” Nitish’s sister said.
For the uninitiated, Tom and Jerry is an animated franchise by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, showing the relationship between Jerry, a clever mouse and Tom, a mischievous cat.
In a series where the likes of Virat Kohli, Pant and others were expected to dominate the run charts, it is Nitish Reddy, who is India’s top run-scorer. In four matches, the right-handed batter has notched 293 runs at an average of 58.60 and a strike-rate of 67.04. Nitish got scores of 30s and 40s in the first three Tests before showing his class in Melbourne.