Nitish Kumar Reddy’s maiden century and Washington Sundar’s half-century on Saturday shifted the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in India’s favor. Reddy was undefeated on 102* when stumps were called early due to bad light and rain. India finished the day at 358/9, 116 runs behind Australia’s 474 first innings total.
In-form Reddy and Sundar shared 127 runs, and India’s lower-order rallied to stay in close. Australia bowled Rishabh Pant (28), Ravindra Jadeja (17), Washington Sundar (50), and Jasprit Bumrah (0).
Border and Gavaskar are level at 1-1 and competing for berths in the June 2025 World Test Championship final at Lord’s.
The hosts are second (58.89%), India third (55.88%), and South Africa first (63.33%). India will resume their first innings on the fourth day with Reddy (105*) and Mohammed Siraj (2*) at the crease.
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
