Watch: Steve Smith pulls off a stunner to dismiss Nitish Kumar Reddy for 1

Australia's vice-captain Steve Smith took a stunning catch at first slip to hand Australia the crucial wicket of Nitish Kumar Reddy. Smith, who normally has great hands, showed excellent awareness at slip to end Reddy's short stay at the crease.

It was an excellent ball from the offspinner Nathan Lyon who tossed the ball outside off stump. The ball didn't turn enough as Reddy looked to defend on the front foot. As a result, the ball took the outside edge of his bat to go towards Smith's left.

Steve Smith went low to his left and completed a superb reflex catch with both his hands under the ball. It was some excellent piece of bowling and fielding from Australia that resulted in this wicket.

Watch: KL Rahul, Virat Kohli’s wickets leave Athiya Shetty, Anushka Sharma heartbroken in MCG Test

Watch: Steve Smith takes a stunner to dismiss Nitish Kumar Reddy

Do not go anywhere, this Test has turned up a notch!

Steve Smith with a beauty 😱 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/cgJeQSGcRK

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2024

Steve Smith has always been known for a wonderful piece of hands and has taken a no. of outstanding catches in his career. He is a master at slip off both fast and spin bowling.

Meanwhile, it was a big wicket for Australia as Nitish Kumar Reddy has been excellent with the bat throughout the series. The young allrounder has been highly consistent with the bat and has contributed crucial runs down the order for India.

Nitish Kumar Reddy is first innings centurion

Nitish Kumar Reddy slammed his maiden Test ton in the first innings of Melbourne Test. His knock came at a time when India were under immense pressure of avoiding the follow-on.

However, he showed excellent temperament and resilience and played the situation perfectly by mixing caution with aggression. Reddy started positively but changed his game according to the situation later.

He formed an excellent partnership of 127 runs with Washington Sundar to move India into a much safer position. Reddy smashed 114 off 189 deliveries and struck 11 fours and 1 six during his knock.

Nitish Kumar Reddy's wicket opened the doors for Australia as they moved towards India's tail. It was also Lyon's first wicket of the innings and the jubiliation on his face revealed the story.

Australia wrap up things quickly

India's tailenders tried their best but coundn't withstand a reletless Australian bowling attack on difficult conditions on the final day. Nathan Lyon picked up the final wicket of Mohammed Siraj to wrap up things for the home team.

Australia had a tough ask to pick up seven wickets in the final session to win the match. It seemed difficult initially with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant batting well. Both the batters looked well set before Rishabh Pant perished in an attempt to go for a big shot to Travis Head's half-tracker.

Pant's wicket opened the floodgates for Australia and they barged through it knock off India's lower order and the tail. Australia now lead the five-match Test series 2-1 with one more match to be played in Sydney.