Nitish Kumar Reddy hits SRH captain Pat Cummins for a brilliant six on Test debut. Watch

Nitish Reddy was one of the few Indian batsmen who managed to perform well on the first day of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. Coming in to bat with India struggling at 73/6, Reddy scored a brilliant 41 off just 59 balls on Test debut, showing confidence and stroke-making ability despite the conditions and match situation. Reddy's innings helped India cross the 150-run mark and one of his shots was brilliant as he uppercut Australia captain Pat Cummins for a six.

The thing to note here is that both have played with each other before also. Actually, Cummins is the captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the team for which Reddy also plays. Both players have been retained by SRH ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, which will begin on days 3 and 4 of the first Test.

Watch: Nitish Reddy uppercuts SRH skipper Pat Cummins to hit a six

What a feat Nitish has done on his debut. pic.twitter.com/AJOv2idsFp

– Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) 22 November 2024

Faced with the challenge of the bouncer, Reddy was up to the task. Despite the fall of eight wickets, Reddy was not afraid of playing adventurous shots. Reacting quickly, Reddy timed his upper cut and sent it over third man for six runs.

Reddy looked comfortable in his Test debut and hit six fours and a six in his 41-run innings, the highest score by an Indian in the first innings.

The 21-year-old Andhra Pradesh player stitched a crucial 48-run partnership with Rishabh Pant as India avoided the threat of being bowled out below 100 and moved closer to 150.

Reddy was included in the first eleven of the Indian team as a fast bowling all-rounder. His selection was a bold decision by Gautam Gambhir and the management, but Reddy repaid the faith by playing a brilliant innings under pressure.

India's bowling wreaked havoc in the final session of the day, reducing Australia's score to 67/7 at stumps. In such a situation, Reddy's innings could be extremely valuable, as it could be the difference between a small lead and a big lead.