It was into this scenario that the 21-year-old Nitish Reddy walked in. And when the day was done, he had worked his way to an unbelievable 105 not out to lift his team and nation with his courage and spirit. Batting at No.8, he had conquered the G in a manner few others had.

India ended Day 3 of the fourth Test of the Border Gavaskar series on 358/9, still trailing by 116 runs, but it could have been so worse. Washington Sundar (50) played a fine supporting hand but the story of the day was Reddy.

He is only the second Indian to make his maiden Test century at the MCG, after Vinoo Mankad in 1948. At 21 years and 216 days, Reddy joined another select group – only Sachin Tendulkar (18y 256d) and Pant (21y 92d) were younger when they hit their maiden centuries in Australia.

Now, everyone knew he could bat. He top-scored for India in the first innings at Perth with 41 and again in both innings at Adelaide with 42 each. But could he play the kind of innings he played on Saturday?

After all, he was only 21. And his other knocks would have given Australia a chance to break down his technique and identify a weakness. But if there is one thing that stands out about him, it is his maturity. He seems calm beyond his years, and even in the nets he goes about his work like a pro.

“To be honest, I was not that serious when I was young,” Nitish told BCCI.tv recently. “My father left his job for me and there has been a lot of sacrifice behind my story. One day, I saw him crying because of the financial problems we were facing, and I was like, “this is not how you can be… my father did this sacrifice and I am playing just for fun”. Then I got serious. I gave my first jersey to him and saw the happiness in his face.”

So much of Reddy’s story is about his dad, Mutyala, and it was only fitting that he was in the stands at the MCG when his son planted the bat into the ground, put the helmet on top, and saluted the sky to celebrate his century.

It was a moment that no one present or watching would forget. But none of this is happenstance. It was a plan put into motion by his dad and his first coach Kumar Swamy. They wanted something to keep a mischievous child busy and cricket did not disappoint.

They first noticed how quickly he was picking up things during a summer camp at the Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association academy and that was when they redoubled their efforts. The performances didn’t come along instantly though and once in 2013 Mutyala was told that it might be better for Reddy to concentrate on studies.

But the father did not lose faith in his son’s talent. He pushed him harder, travelled longer distances in search of better bowlers and practice facilities. And then he suddenly started to click.

A place in the state U-14 team got him started but it was in the 2017-18 Vijay Merchant Trophy that he first took centrestage. His 1,237 runs at an average of 176.41 still remains the record highest tally in the tournament’s history, earning him BCCI’s award for the best U-16 cricketer that season.

Progress was steady after that but the big break came in 2023 when he was picked for IPL, by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹20 lakh. The first season wasn’t quite up to expectations, but he found his feet in 2024 – he won the IPL Emerging Player award – and hasn’t looked back.

The innings at MCG was only an extension of the hard work he has been putting in. He spends a lot of time in the nets shadow batting; visualising what the bowler might bowl at him, and it has taken the element of surprise out of the picture.

The one advice Reddy lives by was given by KL Rahul: “He told me, ‘Macha, when you go to the centre, you will feel everything is going so fast. Slow down the game. Because my first game went that way… everything was so fast, happening in a few seconds, and I didn’t know what to do”. So that really helped me.”

Washington, who shared a great stand with Reddy, knew that something special was around the corner.

“One thing about Nitish is that no matter what he’s doing, on the field or off it, he’s going to give 120%. That’s his approach to life, not just cricket,” said Washington. “I saw him quite closely during IPL as well, his work ethic and the things he would do before every game was something very, very pleasing for all of us to watch and we knew something very special was around the corner.”

Just as pleasing for Reddy would be the comments he received from a man who made his name as a scourge of the Aussies.

“What an innings, dear Nitish,” wrote VVS Laxman on X. “To become the third youngest Indian to score a Test hundred in Aus and what an occasion to do it with the team in trouble. I am sure this will be first of many. Enjoyed your positivity and fearless stroke play. Keep it up. God bless you always.”

The job isn’t done yet and India still have a match to play, but perhaps Reddy is one person who won’t need to be told that. After all, he is Mr. Hundred and twenty percent.