Nitish Kumar Reddy Creates History, Becomes First Indian To...

Nitish Kumar Reddy has certainly been the find of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) for India, as the 22-year-old has taken Test cricket by storm in his debut series. While India were bowled out for 151, 180, and 175 in the first innings of the Perth Test and the two outings in Adelaide, Nitish was the top scorer in all three outings with knocks of 41 (59), 42 (54), and 42 (47).

Even in the second innings at Perth, when India posted a huge total of 487 on the board, Nitish remained unbeaten on the crease with a quick-fire knock of 38 in 27 balls. So far in the series, the all-rounder has made 163 runs at an average of 54.33 and hit 18 boundaries and seven sixes.

Nitish Kumar Reddy Creates History

Quite remarkably, six out of the seven sixes hit by Nitish have come off pacers. The youngster has smashed two maximums of both Pat Cummins and Scott Boland, as well as one each of Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc so far in the series.

Nitish has written his name in the history books and become the first Indian to smash six maximums in Test cricket in Australia. In fact, no other Indian player in history has hit more than three sixes off a fast bowler Down Under.

Nitish also hit one six against Marnus Labuschagne in Perth and with seven maximums is close to breaking the all-time record by an Indian in Australia. Only Rishabh Pant (10), Rohit Sharma (10) and Virender Sehwag (8) have hit more sixes on Australian soil in Test cricket for India than Nitish. The 22-year-old only needs five more sixes to equal Chris Gayle and Viv Richards' world record for most sixes by a visiting batter in Australia (12).

Coming into the series, Nitish's selection was questioned due to his lack of experience in red-ball cricket. Before his Test debut at the Optus Stadium, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) star made his T20I debut for India against Bangladesh in October and became the second-youngest Indian after Rohit Sharma to win the Player of the Match (POTM) award in the shortest format during the second match.

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