India Holds on for a Very Special Draw
How a battle for survival on the fifth day at Sydney unfolded.
At one end, Hanuma Vihari remained rooted to the crease and didn’t even entertain the possibility of a single. At the other end, Ravichandran Ashwin tried to shield himself from a barrage of bouncers until a particularly brutal one thudded onto the sides of his rib cage and left him gasping for air. He was holding on to dear life.
Usually at the end of a draw, even though it is recorded as such, one side clearly emerges as the winner, thrilled that they avoided a certain defeat when no one expected them to. And the other side invariably feels disappointed that they couldn’t finish the job that everyone would have expected them to.
Almost always the happier side after a draw is the batting side. Because to win a Test match you have to take 20 wickets. And when as a team you can’t achieve that over the course of five days, you feel let down. A draw it may be, honors shared equally and all, but in truth you have fallen short of your goal. Mission almost but not accomplished.
But as a batting unit, if you can’t win, you can still save a Test match. Not win, not lose. But save from either. To save a match you must bat for time. A long, long time. There is no target, no goal. You need only remain unbeaten. A draw it may be, honors shared equally and all, but in truth you have reached your goal if you can survive till the end of the final day. Mission indeed accomplished.
India’s mission at the Sydney Cricket Ground today couldn’t have been more impossible had it been a Tom Cruise movie. Set aside the quarantine drama, the despicable racial abuse from a few spectators towards Mohammed Siraj, the seemingly never-ending spate of injuries increasing by the hour, and the daunting target of 407 runs. There was also the minor task of batting out the entire fifth day against a world class bowling attack in their own backyard while possibly being one man down. This after enduring their first genuine bad day of the tour so far as Australia racked up the runs on the way to a declaration and in the process nearly entirely deflated the bowlers.
Now, the notion of Cheteshwar Pujara occupying the crease comforted everyone, many of whom were annoyed at best and outraged at worst at his effort in the first innings. A batsman batting slow in a Test match, alert the authorities! In a situation tailor-made for him, he stepped up and played his finest innings of the series, moving his feet wonderfully to Nathan Lyon and standing resolute in defense to the lethal pace trio.
At one end, Pujara was doing his best impersonation of Rahul Dravid and absorbing all kinds of pressure. At the other end, Rishabh Pant was batting like a dream, attempting to actually carry out the impossible mission.
Pant targeted and stepped out to Lyon after a sedate start to his innings. A couple of sixes over long-on and an especially exquisite one over extra cover threw everyone off their game: the bowlers, the fielders, the viewers, and the commentators. He epitomized the art of the counterattack, taking the spinner on and punishing any bad ball from the seamers. He was a breath of fresh air as he muscled his way to 97, elbow injury be damned. But dreams eventually end; it was Lyon who rudely awakened him as Pant mishit one straight to backward point.
By the time Pujara perished to a ripper from Josh Hazlewood, arguably Australia’s best bowler on the day, Hanuma Vihari had managed to get cramped up while completing a run and there were still upwards of 40 overs left till Stumps. Two new batsmen at the crease, one less functioning hamstring, and a mission impossible.
The Pant-Pujara partnership had flirted with a win but at this stage the only goal was self-preservation. Vihari, limping for those rare singles, played perhaps the most important innings of his career. Ashwin too batted out of his skin, took blows to the body on a regular basis and yet kept coming back for more. Together, they produced a blockathon for the ages.
The Vihari-Ashwin partnership was a masterclass on survival on Day 5 of a Test match. Mission impossibly accomplished.
At one end, Tim Paine spilled a couple chances, the Australian bowlers bowled their hearts out, and eventually they shook hands to call a truce. At the other end, India incredibly overcame everything thrown at them and hanged on for a very special draw. They head to Brisbane with the series still leveled, and them still holding on to dear life.