India young sensation Nitish Kumar Reddy smashed his maiden international century on Saturday during the fourth Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
In a courageous counter-attack, the 21-year-old paired with Washington Sundar to put up a record 127-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
Sundar, who backed Reddy with a valient departed soon after scoring fifty, however, determined Nitish remained unbeaten at 105 at stumps on Day 3 taking India to 358/9.
Nitish, who missed out on a fifty in earlier matches, where he scored fearless forties, had enthralled audience with his 'pushpa' celebration after reaching his first Test half century. However, it was not the case after score a ton.
The cameras were soon turned onto his dad, Mutyala Reddy.
Cheering from the crowds, his dad, in tears and folded hands looked releived and happy for his son.
Nitish and his dad share a very strong bond, which became evident during the IPL games. In a video, released recently by the BCCI, Nitish talks about how his dad's rock solid support helped him become the player and the person that he is today.
He even says that he was once not so serious about his game but things turned around after he saw his dad in tears over financial woes.
"To be honest I was not that serious about cricket, my father left his job for me, there have been a lot of sacrifices behind my story. one day I saw him crying because of financial problems and I was like this is not how I play, my father was making sacrifices and I was playing cricket for fun," Nitish said.
He said that incident changed his life and he put in a lot of hard work to reach this place. "At that time I took it seriously and after one year I got the growth, I did the hard work."