“Bruised. Broken. But never short of character”: Former cricketers hail Team India’s resilience at SCG as they avoid defeat in 3rd Test

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JKR Staff
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Former cricketers have showered praises on the resilience shown by Team India players to pull off a draw against Australia in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday.

Sydney Cricket Ground

India needed to score 407 runs in their second innings to win the Sydney Test and take 2-1 lead in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Thanks to a blistering knock of 97 by Rishabh Pant on Monday morning, an Indian victory looked possible. India fancied their chances even after Pant’s departure as Cheteshwar Pujara began to play big shots.

However, all hopes for an Indian victory evaporated after Pujara too departed for 77, bringing Ravichandran Ashwin to the crease. With Hanuma Vihari pulling his hamstring and Ravindra Jadeja nursing injury, Australia would have detected a certain win, but an extraordinary batting display by Ashwin and Vihari put paid to the Aussie hopes.

They batted all through the last session of the match to score just 62 runs for the sixth wicket by facing 259 balls. Vihari faced 161 balls to score his 23, while Ashwin played a knock of an unbeaten 39 runs by facing 128 balls.

India ended the match 334-5, comfortably managing a draw in a match that potentially saw their defeat.

Showering praises on the resilience shown by Team India players, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly tweeted, “Hope all of us realise the importance of pujara,pant and Ashwin in cricket teams..batting at 3 in test cricket against quality bowling is not always hitting through the line ..almost 400 test wickets don’t come just like that..well fought india..time to win the series.”

Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane wrote, “Bruised. Broken. But never short of character. Really happy with how the boys fought till the end. Lots to learn and improve as we look forward to Brisbane now.”

India’s batting legend Sachin Tendulkar tweeted, “Really proud of #TeamIndia! Special mention to @RishabhPant17, @cheteshwar1, @ashwinravi99 and @Hanumavihari for the roles they’ve played brilliantly. Any guesses in which dressing room the morale will be high?”

Former India batsman VVS Laxman wrote, “What a remarkable performance by Team India. Once again great show of resilience under grave provocation, spate of injuries and several key players missing. Bravo!”

This is how current members of the Indian team expressed their feelings on today’s performance;

The series is currently tied at 1-1 with the fourth and the last match scheduled to be played in Brisbane.

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