“Very very tension. Last wicket Mohammed Siraj, very tension tension.”

Mutyala Reddy struggled to find words in a language that he isn't fluent with, trying to answer how he was feeling as his son, Nitish Kumar Reddy, India's new Test sensation, neared a landmark that almost every Indian visualises in their head at some point. His family members tried translating Adam Gilchrist’s questions into Telugu for him, but it seemed as if words from his mother tongue deserted him as well. The language of love is universal, words or no words. It was obvious what he was trying to express.

His son, all of 21 years old, had just struck a century in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground in a Boxing Day Test when his team was looking down and out.

There’s only one way a dad would be feeling after that.

Reddy’s journey in this series had been dramatic enough: the manner of his call-up to the Test squad without boasting of eye-catching returns, his selection in the playing XI, his enterprising debut at Perth, his selection over Shubman Gill in Melbourne, and India’s capitulation in flat-batting conditions, leaving him with the responsibility of taking India past the follow-on mark. After all this, even a half-decent cameo, sprinkled with a glory shot or two, would have been enough to ensure that his stock kept steadily rising.

But nothing about Reddy’s rise has been steady.

As he blunted Scott Boland down the ground for a picture-perfect lofted on-drive to reach three figures, his dad’s ‘tension’ finally gave way to tears of joy and pride, 90,000 people at the MCG stood in ovation for him, and Reddy himself broke into a cinematic celebration - one knee bent and one arm aloft - with the confidence of a guy who would have visualised this moment a thousand times in his head.

The minutes leading up to it had been pure theatre.

Along with Washington Sundar, Reddy had taken India well past 274, the follow-on mark. The comfort with which the pair, who had come together at 221-7, were batting had an eeriness about it. Indian batting has conditioned viewers to such chaos in recent times that the safety of the Sundar-Reddy partnership almost felt unsafe. Against the run of play, however, Nathan Lyon got one to rip and bounce, getting Sundar to edge behind to slip with Reddy stranded at 97.

With just two partners left, Reddy took matters into his own hands. He denied Bumrah the strike for the first half of the next over before, sheepishly almost, returning for two runs on the last ball to eventually lose the strike on 99. Every ball of the 114th over, bowled by Cummins, was an event. He bounced Bumrah with the first and got him to edge to slip with the third, bringing Siraj to the crease.

This wasn’t the first time Siraj would need to see off a few deliveries to allow his partner at the other end to get to his hundred. Back in 2021, it had been a similar situation in the Ahmedabad Test against England. Sundar was in Reddy’s shoes then. Siraj couldn’t survive and Sundar remained unbeaten on 96, failing to reach his maiden Test ton.

“What I am really disappointed about are the tailenders. They couldn’t stay on for even a brief while,” is how Sundar’s father had expressed his frustration. What if history repeated itself and this time it was Reddy who remained stranded on 99*? How would his father have reacted? In Kanye West’s words, “I guess we’ll never know”.

Siraj ducked, Siraj defended, and Siraj survived. And Reddy reached the milestone that, in hindsight, he looked so destined to reach. All series, he had provided India respectability with his 30s and 40s. There were the audacious reverse ramps and helicopter flicks you’d expect of any modern-day batter irrespective of the format.

But the highlight of his knock today was how simple he kept things.

Every ball was played to its merit. When he came forward to drive the seamers, the stride was long and the ball was met under the eye. When the ball was shorter, he would stand tall and punch it through covers with ease. His judgement of length against the spinners was exceptional, not missing out on any scoring opportunity against anything even slightly overpitched, while at the same time not forcing an aggressive shot off a good length ball out of temptation. The most impressive aspect of his batting, however, was his reading of the game situation.

After an elongated tea break due to rain, Australia threw the ball to Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc. In the combined spell of six overs that they bowled, Reddy left alone ten deliveries, clearly curbing his instincts and focusing on getting his eye back in after a break in momentum, much to the joy of Sunil Gavaskar on air.

Before his Test debut, Reddy averaged 21.63 with the bat from 23 first-class games. Nothing in his numbers suggested he would be India’s highest run-scorer three-and-a-half Tests into the series. Nothing in his numbers suggested that he could take on Australia’s famed fast bowling attack. And yet, here he is, with 284 runs at 71, having already hit eight sixes - the joint-most by a visiting batter in a Test series in Australia.

Yes, cricket is technically a numbers game, but the eye test is real, something that Reddy had passed with flying colours during IPL 2024. His performance in this series and today is a vindication of that. It will also naturally lead to conversations around his role in the side, for now and for the future. His bowling has been largely under-utilised and perhaps rightly so - he hasn’t looked threatening enough. Sanjay Manjrekar believes this knock should make Reddy a fixture at No.6, allowing India to pick four proper bowlers along with Jadeja at seven.

It’s hard to predict what this knock will mean for the immediate future of Reddy’s role in the side. What’s not hard to predict though, is that no one is going to ask for him to be dropped any time soon. And after years of sacrifice, his father will soon have to find words to explain to a plethora of journalists and well-wishers, what it means to see his son make it.

Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.