Not far away, his mother, Manasa, and sister, Tejaswi, were also praying. Back in India, his coaches, Nirmal Kumar in Ranchi and CD Thomson in Hyderabad, were extremely tense as they watched the action from their respective TV screens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The whole situation resembled a tense scene from a Telugu movie potboiler - the hero about to get a major win, and his family anxiously hoping for it to happen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Boland bowled a full ball at the stumps, and with an elegant loft over mid-on, Nitish reached his first Test century. The stadium, including the entire Indian team in the dugout, rose to applaud a splendid knock played by their youngest touring member.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Overwhelmed with joy, Mutyalu\u2014who in 2016 left a secure government job to champion Nitish\u2019s cricketing dreams\u2014wept openly, his hands pressed together in prayer, thanking God amidst the deafening applause from fans around him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The joyous tears of Manasa, Tejaswi, commentators, and spectators in India and at the MCG mirrored Nitish\u2019s exuberant Bahubali-style celebration on hitting his first international century, coming after his Pushpa-inspired celebration on reaching the half-century mark.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Back home, Nirmal and Thomson were beaming with pride as Nitish marked his grand arrival in the international cricket arena. They say movies rarely mirror real life, but on December 28, 2024, in bustling Melbourne, the sounds of cheering crowds and the crack of the bat blurred the lines between reality and a cinematic dream as India unearthed a new cricket star in Nitish, who eventually made 114 on Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a joy and an absolute privilege to watch him bat. We\u2019ve been wishing for this from a long time. I was watching it with my whole family back home and since all of us know him very well, we were getting pretty anxious when he refused a couple of singles as well.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cBut there was celebration all around him getting the hundred. We\u2019ve got a small baby in the house, which is my daughter\u2019s son and he also got startled and joined the celebration. So, it was exhilarating to put it in a simple word. I came to Hyderabad to celebrate Christmas with the family and this is now a new year present in advance,\u201d said the USA-based Thomson to IANS.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Nitish\u2019s century thrilled Nirmal, who praised his family\u2019s efforts, hardwork and sacrifice. \u201cHe came in the pressure situation, and to then share a hundred-plus stand with Washington Sundar, and get India past the follow-on, and hit the hundred in Australia in front of his father, mother and sister, absolutely wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cHis father struggled a lot for Nitish\u2019s growth in cricket. He resigned from his government job and stayed back for Nitish\u2019s cricket. He was so passionate about cricket and seeing Nitish\u2019s abilities, he made a lot of sacrifices for him to play at the highest level. To see him happy feels so wonderful,\u201d he said to IANS.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Nitish\u2019s mature demeanor, where he showed zero signs of anxiousness or itchiness, incredibly impressed Thomson. \u201cEven before he got his 50, I had a feeling that if he gets the support from the other end, this boy is going to score big. Generally you see guys getting their first hundreds, they\u2019re very wild and pumping their fists in there. But he was calm, he let the emotions flow, and rode on it before waving to the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the sign which augurs well for not only him, but for the future matches he\u2019s going to play and for the teams he\u2019s going to represent. His calmness has been a standout too - especially when guiding the team under pressure, and definitely having a lefty in Washington batting at the other end did help to rotate the strike and take the pressure off.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Nirmal also expressed a similar sentiment. \u201cTo handle that pressure situation against world\u2019s top class bowlers like Starc, Cummins, Lyon, and dominate them is something which made me very happy. He didn\u2019t feel any pressure anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe only time I felt he was feeling the pressure was when batting on 97, the singles came and he didn\u2019t take it. Even then, he wasn\u2019t looking for his hundred and was on lookout for chances of scoring more runs for India. He was always looking for runs for the team, which I really liked as he\u2019s a team man.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Having known Nitish for 10-12 years from their time in Andhra, Thomson noted his Melbourne knock perfectly illustrated four key coaching principles \u2013 training, technique, tactical awareness, and temperament.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cHe literally worked, pushed his body to the limit over the last couple of years to develop that strength that\u2019s required when playing at the elite level. He\u2019s been one of the guys who\u2019s not been troubled by the moving ball, and by the ball cutting off the wicket right throughout the series.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cHis ability to choose when to hit the ball, where to hit it and against which bowler to hit it was a standout along with the temperament and he displayed all of it in this whole series, and hats off to him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very easy for us coaches to sit down here and say he could or should have done this and that. But total salute to the boy, his family, and his father, who\u2019s been like a rock behind him. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s just the beginning of greater things to come.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
According to Thomson, Nitish possesses remarkable mental strength; he readily tackles challenges and adapts his approach, a quality also enhanced by his time playing IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWhenever you adapt, and learn, you develop your temperament rather than staying in the same zone. Nitish right throughout the years has always been a big run scorer, like he got a 400 in junior cricket, and always had that skill to score at will.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe development has been in his self-belief after going to the IPL, and being there with all the top players over there - by seeing how they train, and positivity they bring to their thought processes. That\u2019s showed in his growth over a year and a half.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not looking at every game like it\u2019s his last game and goes in saying that, \u2018I\u2019m young, I will get there and I\u2019ve got this\u2019. That mental toughness is not developed overnight, it\u2019s one of the hardest things that takes time to develop.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt has come due to product of his travel, the upbringing he\u2019s had, or the limitations there. But to see him perform really well on a stage in front of 70-80,000 people and not be fazed by it, total salute to the boy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Nirmal, who coached Nitish for four years in the U19 setup before reuniting in last year\u2019s Ranji Trophy, recalled about the youngster\u2019s fondness of playing in pressure situations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIf he has to score 20 runs in two overs, he will say \u2018I will go and finish\u2019. If he has to defend 10 runs in the last over, he will stand up and say \u2018I will stop those runs and we will win\u2019. He is like that. Whatever happens in a game, he takes responsibility for everything and is used to doing it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Nirmal highlights the Andhra Cricket Association\u2019s (ACA) residential academies as instrumental in Nitish\u2019s progress - starting from his enrollment at the U14 level in Kadapa, before moving to Vizianagaram centre.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The academies were established by MSK Prasad, the former Indian wicket keeper-batter, who previously served as ACA\u2019s director of cricket and subsequently as chief selector for the senior men\u2019s national team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
From the U14 academy, Prasad identified Nitish as a notable talent, as he climbed steadily through the age-group system. Nitish also received significant support from Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari, a key figure in India\u2019s 2021 incredible drawn Sydney Test.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cLast season, when I was the head coach for the Andhra Ranji team, he focused on batting, after being heavily focused on bowling in previous two seasons. He scored a hundred against Bihar and had a knock of 70 too as a number seven batter. Since then, he has performed with the batting in senior cricket,\" added Nirmal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Apart from Nitish\u2019s eye-catching boundaries, the firmness in his footwork and watertight defence, Thomson, who was with Andhra till 2020, pointed out how Nitish\u2019s ever-learning nature makes him stand apart from other youngsters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cYou could give him a tip or two, and leave it. Then, you come back again 10-15 days later, and he\u2019s adopted that. He\u2019s one guy who will listen to you with keen intent, absorb it from you what it is, and assimilate that particular thing. Right from childhood, he had this gift, and talent.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe line they say is, talent is nothing but the ability to learn faster than another person. So that ability, Nitish displayed as a very young kid. Any coach who works with him will realise that he\u2019s given him a tip, this boy has gone back, come back two days later and put it into the thing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Whenever Thomson is back home from the USA, Nitish and Mutyalu make it a point to meet him, where the focus is to work on his power hitting skills via special camps and one-on-one sessions. \u201cIn USA, I learnt how baseballers hit a ball with a small bat further away. I brought the learnings back, and shared it with him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI could see that one month later, he\u2019s already adopted it into his game. So hats off to the boy, as learning is the top skill that he has. You will see that he keeps improving with every outing that he\u2019s having there.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Years down the line, the memory of December 28, 2024, will instantly evoke the palpable tension of Melbourne when Nitish neared his century, and the eruption of cheers when he finally reached his hundred.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI could see that one month later, he\u2019s already adopted it into his game. So hats off to the boy, as learning is the top skill that he has. You will see that he keeps improving with every outing that he\u2019s having there.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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