Nitish Kumar Reddy celebrated his special knock Test innings in style, doing the iconic 'Pushpa' move on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday. India were reeling at 191-6 when Nitish came to bat and produced an impressive knock under pressure at the MCG.


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After completing his half-century with a boundary off a wide delivery from Mitchell Starc, Nitish made sure to celebrate the moment in a unique way. The all-rounder from Visakhapatnam pulled out Allu Arjun's ‘Pushpa Raj’ move to celebrate the feat.


In an acknowledgement to the film’s iconic character, Pushpa Raj, the 21-year-old Reddy raised his bat around his neck, mimicking the famous gesture performed by actor Allu Arjun.


Nitish' special celebration caught the attention of veteran commentator Sunil Gavaskar.


"O… Pushpa," said Gavaskar on air, with a touch of amusement. 



 


Nitish didn't stop after that half-century and he went on to become the first Indian batter batting at No.8 or lower to smash a Test century in Australia.


Earlier, the right-hander got starts in all of his five innings in the first three Tests - 41 off 59 and 38* off 27 in Perth, 42 off 54 and 42 off 57 in Adelaide, and 16 off 61 in Brisbane - but couldn’t touch the 50-run mark as most of times he didn't get any support from the lower order.


However, Nitish has now finally managed to convert it into a big score to keep India alive in the fourth Test. He was unbeaten on 105 off 176 balls at Stumps on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test.


At stumps, India were trailing the hosts by 116 runs. Stumps were called early due to bad light.