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Australia 338 and 312 for 6 dec drawn with India 244 and 334 for 5 (Pant 97, Pujara 77, Sharma 52, Ashwin 39 *, Vihari 23 *, Hazlewood 2-39)
A bruised and beaten Indian team could not run between the wickets for more than one session. They had a player with a broken thumb waiting to hit the next one. They were without their original captain and their best drummer. They hit bowling short one shot after another, against one of the best bowling attacks. And yet, against all odds, India produced one of the most spectacular displays of a patient stick and exemplary fighting spirit to pull off a draw that hardly anyone saw coming at the start of the season. fifth day.
With 97 overs to make it through the day and eight wickets in hand, India came through under immense pressure led by the partnership between Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin which lasted 42.4 overs for 62 races, to maintain the level of the series on 1-1.
Even though Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara had staged India’s fight earlier in the day with a century-old position that even gave the team a chance for victory at the start, the highest praise goes to Vihari and Ashwin for the character they showed. The two met against the second new ball with over 40 overs left in the day, a pressurized Vihari had already had a hamstring injury and Ashwin was greeted by a barrage of short balls that left him dented the body.
The two made the Australian bowlers work in the sun with a blockathon to draw some frustration from the hosts towards the end of the day. Nathan Lyon played 46 relentless overs, Pat Cummins hit the field throughout the day and Josh Hazlewood found a reverse swing, but only to see a steadfast pair of hitters who defended almost everything that came up. Unable to run, Vihari finished undefeated 23 of 161 after hitting for just under three hours, and Ashwin’s wake saw him score 39 points for his stay of 128 balls. Australia will also regret the four catches they lost that day, including three by captain Tim Paine, including two off Pant and one off Vihari at the end of the day, and one by substitute outfielder Sean. Abbott, off Ashwin.
Considering Australia’s full-strength attack, all seemed lost for India when Ashwin joined Vihari in the 89th with more than one session to survive. But their determined approach was not deterred by the difficult task at hand, the opposition, the injuries or the chatter around the stumps. Initially, Ashwin was at the end of hostile bowling when Cummins started the last session with bouncers, a strategy also used by Hazlewood. Ashwin took punches to his arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen, and was even caught behind the second ball after tea before reruns showed there was no glove and bat. Ashwin was also lucky his edges fell safe and when he attacked a short ball with a rare 15 draw, Abbott dropped him to the square leg. The immediate respite Ashwin received was when Lyon replaced Hazlewood on the other end.
Unable to change strikes, Ashwin and Vihari put a price on their wicket like never before against precise bowling to the stumps that got them playing almost everything with up to five players around the bat at times.
Eventually Cummins was substituted in the attack as well, but Mitchell Starc couldn’t take the same kind of pressure and Ashwin started collecting limits off Lyon. When there were 24 overs, Ashwin had reached 24 with four fours, but Vihari was still 6 of 82 balls as the duo played six young girls in a row.
With over 40 overs to their name, Lyon started the final hour and now both batsmen have started collecting runs a bit more freely. Vihari hit double digits with two fours in a Cummins over off only to be dropped twice later on Starc around the wicket by Paine, who jumped to his right and got a glove for the outside edge but couldn’t hold on. Five other young girls followed in a row which saw some edges fall short, some wide pitches, and as it all rolled out for India the two teams shook hands with more to spare.
It was the third longest sixth wicket stand for India in the fourth inning, and the first time since 1979 that India had beaten more than 132 overs in the fourth inning of a test.
The fact that Ashwin and Vihari might think about recovering a draw was due to the 148-innings partnership between Pujara and Pant, after Ajinkya Rahane was caught in the short leg for Lyon’s opening wicket. Pant was promoted to No.5, possibly to counterattack, and he started with an assault on Lyon in his scintillating 97-shot.
Pant’s dominance over bowlers and the partnership with Pujara had such an impact that Australia had to change their bowlers regularly and Pujara continued his natural game while pushing the limits. Pant started off slow though, creeping up to 5 of 33, as India was 102 to 3 in the first session when he joined Pujara. He conceded after getting a life in 3, when he beat Lyon but Paine knocked him down. Pant, already struck with an injured elbow, also took a few punches to his body from Cummins on the thumb and once on the helmet, before tearing Lyon apart.
Halfway through the circle he danced down and lifted the spinner up for four and six successive deliveries, before collecting two more four fours in the next to pass Pujara. Lyon changed ends soon but that didn’t stop Pant. On 37, he charged even with a long and long-off in place for two consecutive sixes in the V on the floor.
Lyon also reportedly had Pant on 56 for an away advantage when Pant pushed on the outside, but Paine brought him down again. Pant also unleashed some hard-hitting workouts and snatched fast bowlers, and went after Lyon again after lunch with daring hits on the floor to run in the ’90s. But Lyon threw a wide of Pant when he came out for another lift and the batter got a head start to a dive point back.
Pujara, meanwhile, hit his 27th Test fifty and crossed 6,000 points in format, nearly replying Pant with three successive four fours off Cummins once the second new ball was taken. He would often use his feet against Lyon to reach the ground of the ball or to cut the back foot, and watched Hazlewood’s reverse swing spell intently until the quick bowler got the new ball and had one to hold. his line to make Pujara tremble. strains for 77.
It was still Pujara’s longest time on the pitch in the fourth round of a test, and with the kind of part he played in an exhilarating day of cricket testing to save the match at India , it was a fitting tribute to Rahul Dravid’s 48th birthday.
Vishal Dikshit is Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo
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