On the final day of the Sydney Test, R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari displayed heroics rarely seen before on the cricket field. Both the batsmen were injured and bruised but needed to play more than 40 overs to save the Test. The duo continued to bat on and ensured that the visitors do not lose any wickets and pushed the match to a draw.
Speaking in a video on Youtube, Ashwin revealed what went down in the middle and questioned Australia's tactics on the day.
"Australia's tactics during the fourth innings of the SCG Test really made me curious. Their tactics looked like Australia did not realise what we were doing.
"They must have thought that we guys were not rotating strike because of injury, but the main reason was one guy cannot move his foot forward and the other one was getting body blows, and then suddenly, it became our strategy," Ashwin told fielding coach R Sridhar on his YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}"They must have thought that we guys were not rotating strike because of injury, but the main reason was one guy cannot move his foot forward and the other one was getting body blows, and then suddenly, it became our strategy," Ashwin told fielding coach R Sridhar on his YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}"Then, what happened was, my back became stiff and I could not move. They made a mistake. If they had pitched it up to me, I might have edged or found it difficult, I feel. They thought to scare us off by hitting us everywhere by bouncing.
"It worked counterproductively. The more beaten I got, the more resolve I got. What more is left to be thrown at me? I got an inner resolve. Add to this, Tim Paine started banter as well. You can take it as you want, but at that point, Vihari and I thought that Australia has lost it," he added.
On Tuesday, Australia's fortress -- The Gabba -- was finally breached. It took 32 years and two months, but the unthinkable was achieved as an injury-ravaged young Indian team beat Australia by three wickets against all odds in the final Test to take the series 2-1.
(With ANI inputs)