India's epic test

Down 1-0 after the Adelaide Test, in which India collapsed to its lowest-ever total - 36 - in the second innings, not many had bet on an Indian recovery. But they did it, with elan

India’s 2-1 Test series win in Australia must count as one of its greatest victories. It certainly has to be India’s greatest away series win. Down 1-0 after the Adelaide Test, in which India collapsed to its lowest-ever total — 36 — in the second innings, after taking a lead in the first, not many had bet on an Indian recovery. But they did it, with élan.

Going into the second Test at Melbourne, India had already lost their captain and batting mainstay, Virat Kohli, who had to miss the last three Tests, having to fly home to be with his actor wife, Anushka Sharma, who was scheduled to give birth. India was also missing injured frontline pacer, Ishant Sharma.

In Kohli’s absence, Ajinkya Rahane led the squad, by example. His first-innings century — 112— helped India to a lead of 131 runs, which put the Aussies out of the game. Rahane got the winning runs in a 69-run chase. That’s when the chips went down.

Already missing Ishant, India lost replacement Umesh Kumar to a calf muscle injury for the third Test at Sydney. Earlier, automatic pick Moh­ammed Shami had been ruled out for the rest of the series with a wrist fracture, being hit by a Pat Cummins delivery. This effectively meant that India went into the third Test with two rookie pacers — Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini, with spinning all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja being drafted into the playing XI.

Saini was playing his third Test and Siraj his second. Jasprit Bumrah was leading the pace attack on his 16th outing. Disaster struck the Indians again. Bumrah, Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and top-order batsman Hanuma Vihari all suffered injuries, which meant that the Indian team had to go hobbled into the final Test in Brisbane.

But before we get there, a few words on the epic third encounter would be in order. After winning the toss for the third time in a row, Australia’s captain chose to bat. The Aussies put together a score of 338, powered by a 131 by a till then out-of-sorts Steven Smith. India responded with a distinctly sub-par 244, featuring 50s by Cheteshwar Pujara and rookie opener Shubman Gill. Down the order, wicket-keeper/batsman Rishabh Pant contributed 36 and Jadeja, with his signature grit, an undefeated 28.

Batting again, Australia declared with six wickets gone and 312 runs on the board. This left India with a massive ask. Getting 407 to win was nowhere near the ballpark, no pun intended, but even lasting the 130-plus overs they needed to play out seemed to be out of the question, especially with Jadeja injured and unlikely to bat and Pant, too, suffering an injury.

But they did bat out the required overs, with five wickets still in the bag and 334 runs on the board. There was to start with a decent 71-run opening partnership between Rohit Sharma, who got a half-century, and Gill, who made 31. Pujara chipped in with 77 runs. But two unlikely partnerships saved India. A 148-run effort between Pujara and Pant, who got 97, set the stage for a brave effort by Vihari and Ashwin, putting together 62 runs. What made it heroic was that Vihari sustained a serious hamstring injury, which did not allow him to move freely and Ashwin had a sore back. More of that in a bit. Neither played the fourth Test.

So, India went into the final Test seriously depleted. Shardul Thakur, with two Tests behind him, replaced Bumrah and debutant Washington Sundar, an off-spinner who bats a bit, replaced Ashwin. If the third Test was epic, there are no words to describe the fourth and final one. Australia got 369 runs and it was only a rearguard offensive by Thakur (67) and Sundar (62) that allowed India to remain in the hunt with a small deficit.

Australia got 294 in their second innings, leaving India with an improbable run chase of 328; survival was on most people’s minds. As we all now know, they did it with three wickets and three overs to spare. The heroes of the second innings were Pujara who hung in there taking manifold blows to the body while making 56 in 211 balls; Gill, who got 91 opening the innings; and Pant remained not out on 89.

No praise, of course, would be excessive for the inexperienced bowling attack, which did not allow Australia to run away with the third and fourth Tests.

And, finally, to return to Vihari. After his heroic stay at the crease, Union minister of state Babul Supriyo, a Bengal MP, tweeted trenchant criticism of the batsman, accusing him, inter alia, of murdering cricket. Being a Bengali, however, he spelt the batsman’s name Hanuma Bihari. Vihari’s two-word tweet in response was, “Hanuma Vihari”. On 14 January, Supriyo stuck to his guns, despite admitting he knows very little about the game.