Partnership of Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin survived 44 overs after Rishabh Pant's counter-attack against the Australialian bowlers
Team India roared back like a wounded lion, literally, in an act of resolute and defiance at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday, and managed to draw to take the series 1-1 into the fourth and the final Test of the series. After losing wickets of Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin joined injured Hanuma Vihari to play out 44 overs in fight of a lifetime.
India didn't get off to a great start on fifth and final morning of the Test match as they lost the wicket of skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the seventh over of the day. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon picked Rahane's wicket as he got him to play a defensive shot straight into the hands of short-leg fielder Matthew Wade.
The masterstroke
After which, India surprised everyone by sending wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant at No 5 ahead of Hanuma Vihari. Pant, however, came in and looked in a hurry to finish the game.
In what was an outstanding masterstroke from the team management, Pant took on Aussie bowlers and kept smashing them. He had a determined Cheteshwar Pujara for company at the other end.
The assault and the determination
Pujara brought up his second fifty of the game as he led India's fightback with the bat in the first place. After getting out immediately post his fifty in the first innings, Pujara didn't have to worry about the scoring as he had Pant beast-mode at the other end.
Pant brought up his quick fifty off just 64 balls after hitting Lyon for two sixes back-to-back and completing a well-deserved milestone with a single. Pant became more dangerous after getting to his half-century as he was clearly going for the target.
Destruction from one end, and gritty defence from the other, Australian bowlers had started looking clueless as this partnership crossed 100-run mark.
Pant continued on his merry run as India were 206-3 at the stroke of Lunch.
The P(ujara) and P(ant) of India's reply
The partnership kept the hopes alive for a win, but everyone was aware that all four results were possible in the remaining 66 overs of the day.
Pujara-Pant partnership defied the Australian bowlers for a while in the second session too, before Pant fell in an identical manner with the way he was playing. "You play by the sword and you die by it", was never more perfect than this situation as Pant fell short of his magical hundred by just 3 runs.
With a bruised elbow, Pant played like a wounded lion in an innings of 97 (118), which was studded with 12 fours and 3 sixes.
The setbacks
After he fell, Pujara embodied Pant's character as he started playing aggressively. However, India received another injury setback when Vihari tore his hamstring in an attempt to take a quick single.
India's misery increased multifold when India lost Pujara to Josh Hazlewood's outstanding delivery. The celebration by the Australians showed how much the wicket meant to the whole team.
At 272-5, with 44 overs to go and probably a batsman short, and the one on the crease was limping, India were in trouble.
In came Ravichandran Ashwin, the lower-order batsman who has scored 4 centuries in the format previously, has faced more than 100 balls in 11 innings before, and India required all of them from the expreienced tall offie.
The nerves of steel
And what he and Vihari together produced will go down in the history books of Indian cricket as one of the most determined fightbacks ever.
With racial abuses, without Virat Kohli, and most of the first-choice pace bowlers, suffering so many injuries in the series and the Sydney Test, the visitors fought like warriors at the SCG battleground.
Vihari and Ashwin held their forts as Australian bowlers kept coming back again and again for repeated, elongated spells, but the unwavered mental strength to blunt down th most fearsome bowling attack in the world, showed what these two were really made off.
The duo put on a loss-defying partnership of 62 runs off humongous 256 balls to salvage and scrape to a draw.
Avoiding a loss also helped India gain 10 points out of this match as far as the points table of the World Test Championship (WTC) is concerned.
With series locked at 1-1 and Sydney Test ending ina draw, makes for a mouthwatering and entralling finale and the series decider at the Gabba in Brisbane, going into the fourth and final Test of what has been a closely contested series.
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 "Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin")
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