Nitish Reddy, an unknown entity in red ball cricket before the start of Border-Gavaskar series, virtually bailed India out with his dogged maiden Test century here on Saturday, severely denting Australia's hopes of winning the Boxing Day contest.
Reddy's unbeaten 105 took India to 358 for nine, still 116 runs short of Australia’s first innings score of 474 as rain brought an early end to the third day's play.
With the flat MCG deck not offering much to the bowlers, saving the Test match shouldn't be a big deal for India. Reddy, easily India's 'find of the series', played a pivotal role in visitors' fightback.
Reddy's combative spirit and the invaluable 127-run stand he shared with Washington Sundar (50 off 162 balls) proved to be the turning point for the hosts.
Reddy's innings was termed as one of greatest Test knocks by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar given the situation as India were in a precarious position after Rishab Pant's dismissal courtesy a rash shot had left India tottering at 191 for six.
"This century by Nitish Kumar Reddy must rank as one of the greatest hundreds in the history of Indian cricket," he said.
The young Andhra batter could have been stranded on 99 when Jasprit Bumrah got dismissed, leaving Reddy with last-man in Mohammed Siraj, who walked in to another round of boos and faced three deliveries from home skipper Pat Cummins.
Both Reddy and his father Muthyala's expressions changed with each ball but Siraj survived to allow Reddy savour the moment he must have dreamt a thousand times.
A picture-perfect straight drive off Scott Boland was the moment of the series for India as Reddy balanced his helmet with the bat and took a knee, expressing his gratitude towards the Indian dug-out which gave him a standing ovation.
A decade back, when his father Muthyala left a secured job to open a micro-finance (lending) business and incurred losses, the Reddy family was advised not to give wings to young Reddy's cricketing dreams but they were unrelenting.
Sitting in the stands near the boundary, Reddy's father broke down when his son achieved the milestone.
As Indian fans clicked selfies with him it must have reminded of the day when his son received the best U-16 cricketer award from the BCCI in 2017, and an impressionable Reddy was seen clicking selfie with his idol Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma while leaving the hotel premises.
Reddy's batting was based on stable core, playing the ball late and only going for the drive when the ball was pitched up. He wasn’t defending unnecessarily and 10 fours and a six was a testimony to that.
If the morning was more about Rishabh Pant's inexplicable shot selection, the afternoon session belonged to Reddy, whose attacking game put the pressure right back on Australia.
There were plenty of boundaries and a six off Nathan Lyon but none more gorgeous than the off-drive off Cummins.
Reddy has been by far India's most consistent batter in the series and the maiden Test century couldn't have come at a more opportune time and that too at an iconic venue.
Washington, at the other end, grew in confidence and trusted his defence apart from punishing the loose deliveries. It did help that the drop-in surface at the MCG has got better for batting as the match progressed.
The second new ball did very little for Australian bowlers and the Indian duo ran very well between the wickets. With Mitchell Starc's back acting up a little, the two batters looked to reduce the deficit further.
In the morning it was all about Pant's shot selection that hurt India.
The third day's MCG track is perhaps the best to bat on with green grass making way for a brownish tinge and an old Kookaburra hardly doing anything.
Had Pant stuck around, there was no way he wouldn't have scored big.
Pant did start well and got a few boundaries but then the urge to play the falling lap pull over long-leg brought about his dismissal.
When he tried it for the first time off Scott Boland, who came round the wicket, Pant was hit in the naval area and seemed to be in pain.
He got up but didn't realise that Cummins had placed one fielder at deep fine-leg and one at deep third man for both the conventional and reverse lap shot.
Without learning his lessons or caring about success percentage, Pant tried a similar shot but the extra bounce meant that the top edge flew to third man for a regulation catch.
Stupid, worstest short claims Gavaskar
"Stupid, stupid, stupid. You have got two fielders there and you still go for that (shot). You missed the previous shot and look where you have been caught. You have been caught at deep third man. That is throwing your wicket," a furious Gavaskar said while commentating.
"If there was a word called 'worstest', then this was one such shot," former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar said.
"Not in the situation that India was... you have to understand the situation as well. You cannot say that that's your natural game. I'm sorry, that is not your natural game. That is a stupid shot. That is letting your team down badly," the batting great said on air.
"He should not be going in the dressing room. He should be going in the other dressing room." Former India coach Ravi Shastri termed it a "very risky shot" given the situation.