A courageous and injury-hit India pulled off a remarkable draw in a tense third Test against Australia on Monday as they survived against the hosts’ much-vaunted bowling attack to take the series into a decider.
The stars on day five for India were Cheteshwar Pujara (77 off 205), Rishabh Pant (97 off 118), Hanuma Vihari (23* off 161) and Ashwin Ravichandran (39* off 128), who all played key roles with the bat to defy the relentless Australian bowling attack.
They resumed day five at 98/2, needing a further 309 runs after being set a huge 407 to win when Australia declared their second innings at tea Sunday on 312/6.
The visitors clung on to reach 334/5 at the close, still 73 runs adrift, leaving the series locked at 1-1 ahead of the final Test in Brisbane, starting Friday.
‘Test cricket at its best’, ‘incredible grit from India’: Twitter reacts to epic Sydney Test draw
“Our talk coming into this morning was to show character and fight till the end, not to think about the result,” said India skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
“I’m really happy with the way we fought, especially today but throughout the game. There are few areas we can improve on, but special mention to Vihari and Ashwin. The way they batted in the end and showed character was really good to see.”
Here are some of the big stats from the Sydney Test:
The last time when India batted 100-plus overs in the fourth innings of a Test when Ajit Agarkar & Ashish Nehra added 63 runs for the 10th wicket on Day-5. (Lord’s, 2002)#AUSvIND
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) January 11, 2021
This is in fact the longest India have batted in a fourth innings since 1979 *anywhere*. A remarkable effort. #AUSvIND https://t.co/M0mP4LqY2K
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) January 11, 2021
Four Indians facing 100+ balls in fourth innings of a Test:-
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) January 11, 2021
vs AUS at Sydney, today:-
Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari, R Ashwin
Last time vs SA at Johannesburg, 1992:-
Ravi Shastri, Ajay Jadeja, Sanjay Manjrekar, Pravin Amre#AUSvIND
Tim Paine has now won 64% of his home Test matches as captain, the lowest figure for any Australian captain this century. #AUSvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) January 11, 2021
Only once since the start of 1979 has the Indian team played more overs in the 4th inns of a Test - The Oval v Enghttps://t.co/xbBw9YIp4M #AUSvIND
— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) January 11, 2021
Longest 4th innings at @scg
— Swamp (@sirswampthing) January 11, 2021
936 balls - sa v aus 1963 (8 ball overs)
786 balls - IND v AUS 2021
775 balls - eng v aus 1924 (8)
740 balls - eng v aus 1911
730 balls - aus v eng 1995
@BCCI @cricketcomau #AUSvIND
During this innings, Nathan Lyon became the first ever bowler to concede 2000 runs in home Tests against India.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) January 11, 2021
Most runs conceded at home v IND:-
2077 - Nathan Lyon🇦🇺
1988 - James Anderson🏴
1607 - Muttiah Muralitharan🇱🇰
1503 - Imran Khan🇵🇰
1258 - Stuart Broad🏴#AUSvIND
Most overs batted out by India in 4th inngs in draws
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) January 11, 2021
150.5 v Eng Oval 1979
136.0 v WI Kolkata 1948/49
132.0 v WI Mumbai BS 1958/59
131.0 v Pak Delhi 1979/80
131.0 v Aus Sydney 2020/21 *#AUSvIND
Highest 4th innings totals by visiting teams in Australia to earn a draw:
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) January 11, 2021
335/5 England (Adelaide 1991)
334/5 India (Sydney 2021*)
326/5 South Africa (Sydney 1964)
314/7 England (Sydney 1983)
310/7 England (Melbourne 1947) #AUSvsIND #INDvAUS
Rishabh Pant was both the fastest scorer (4.93rpo) and the most controlled batsman (11% false shots) on Day 5 of this Test. #AUSvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) January 11, 2021
300+ - This is the first time #TeamIndia have made a team total of 300+ in the 4th innings of a men's Test match since September 2018 (345 v England at The Oval). Effort. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/YsdVbH94yQ
— OptaJeev (@OptaJeev) January 11, 2021
Australian bowlers at the SCG:
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) January 11, 2021
Balls Bowled - 1390
Wickets - 12
Average - 47.75
Strike Rate - 115.8
Only once since 1972 that the Australian bowlers bowled more balls in a Test match at a worse strike rate - vs India, Delhi 2008 (12 wickets in 1431 balls @ 119.2 SR). #AUSvIND
256 balls faced by Vihari and Ashwin. Only 4 times in Test history has a 6th-wkt pair faced more balls in a non-defeathttps://t.co/ItI7M9SG5e #AUSvIND
— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) January 11, 2021
The extreme similarity and the extreme contrast...
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) January 11, 2021
Adelaide Test:-
First innings - India bowled out for 244
Second innings - India bat less than 22 overs
Sydney Test:-
First innings - India bowled out for 244
Second innings - India bat more than 122 overs#AUSvIND
Amazing display of grit and determination by India. 131 overs is the longest they have batted in 40 years to save the match. Test cricket at its very best. #AusvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) January 11, 2021
Hanuma Vihari with 183 runs in his 10 Test innings (& 6 Tests) since December 2018 in Australia has faced 640 balls, which means he is facing an average 64 balls/innings!#INDvAUS #INDvsAUSTest #AUSvINDtest #BorderGavaskarTrophy #IndiavsAustralia
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 11, 2021
In Aus vs Ind series in Aus in last 3 years
— JSK (@imjsk27) January 11, 2021
Australia bowlers
Cummins - 29 wkts @ 22.79
Hazlewood - 24 wkts @ 24.83
Starc - 22 wkts @ 33.36
Lyon - 27 wkts @ 36.48
Indian bowlers
Bumrah - 32 wkts @ 21.2
Ashwin - 18 wkts @ 27.5
Shami - 16 wkts @ 28.8
Jadeja - 14 @ 21.8#AUSvIND
Nathan Lyon has only once conceded more runs in the fourth innings of a home Test than he did today - that was at Adelaide in 2014 when he took 7-152. #AUSvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) January 11, 2021
256 - Ravichandran Ashwin & Hanuma Vihari faced 256 balls in their unbeaten partnership of 62* in the third #AUSvIND men's Test - the most by a #TeamIndia sixth-wicket pairing on Australian soil. Patience. pic.twitter.com/Y4ScC3oZXD
— OptaJim (@OptaJim) January 11, 2021
Most balls played by a No. 7 batsman for India in the 4th inns:
— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) January 11, 2021
MS Dhoni - 159 v Eng 2007
RR Pant - 146 v Eng 2018
Mongia - 135 v Pak 1999
Kirmani - 133 v Aus 1977
Ashwin - 128 v Aus 2021https://t.co/oIRos44Qr2 #AUSvIND
Lowest strike rate in a Test after facing 100+ balls for India: (Where known)
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) January 11, 2021
11.66 - Rahul Dravid (21 off 180) vs AUS, 2007 MCG
13.56 - HANUMA VIHARI (27 off 199) vs AUS, 2021 SCG#AUSvIND
Fewest runs scored when facing 160+ balls in a Test innings:
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) January 11, 2021
22 (161) Saleem Altaf Pakistan v England Leeds 1971
23* (161) Hanuma Vihari India v Australia Sydney 2021
25 (244) Hashim Amla South Africa v India Delhi 2015#AUSvIND
Lowest strike-rate in Test innings (min 100 balls, where available):-
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) January 11, 2021
3.0 - John Murray🏴 v AUS in 1963
6.3 - HANUMA VIHARI🇮🇳 v AUS today
6.8 - Neil Wagner🇳🇿 v ENG in 2018
6.9 - Geoff Miller🏴 v AUS in 1978
Top-2 are both at Sydney.
3 of top-4 are by visitors in AUS.#AUSvIND
This is now the most numbers of balls Ravichandran Ashwin has faced in the fourth innings in his Test career. #AUSvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) January 11, 2021
The last time a Test was drawn with 400+ overs played (an average of 80+ overs a day) was in Dubai in Oct 2018 bw Pakistan and Australia.
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) January 11, 2021
Just eight such results out of 205 Tests in the last five years
389.2 overs so far in this Test and 36 overs remaining.#AUSvIND
(With inputs from AFP)