CHENNAI: Seconds after Rudy Tomjanovic led his Houston Rockets to the NBA title in 1995, he uttered the now iconic line: "don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion". Some 25 years later, that could well be applicable to the Indian cricket team. It was a day that saw Indian cricket, battered and bruised, literally and metaphorically, unite Indians everywhere thanks to a display of sheer mental fortitude that will receive multiple retellings in the days, weeks and months to come.
The debate around whether this is the best India team will rumble on. But what can be said with some certainty is that this team fights like no other. This team scraps like no other. Past India teams had the tendency to wave the white flag. This team quite literally puts sticking plaster to cover their wounds to
get ready for another battle. They just won't give up without a fight.
On Monday, their batsmen picked up a fight with the best bowling attack of this era. Two of those, one who was batting on one leg and other who couldn't sit, batted together for more than 40 overs to win that fight. Whatever happens from hereon in, R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari's epic 256-ball 'you shan't breach me' bloody-mindedness will be passed down from generation to generation.
The following sentence will not even begin to paint the magnitude of this performance but it still has to be written. They came into the match with six of the probable XI — KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami — already out. During the course of the match, at least six more — Cheteshwar Pujara, Ashwin, Vihari, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja — were administered painkilling injections or asked to take tablets to keep going. Two members of the team also allegedly faced racist comments from members of the crowd for two days.
Monday began with all four results still possible. After Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed in the second over of the day, visions of an Indian fightback looked dead in the water. That's when an inspired promotion set the wheels in motion for a pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, bum-clenching, nail-eating eight hours of Test cricket in excelsis.
Pant, on medication after taking a hit on his forearm in the first innings, was the one who fanned the flames by attacking Nathan Lyon. Constantly attacking a spinner like Lyon on a fifth day track is signing your own death sentence but Pant doesn't do the conventional. After studying the nature of the pitch — he was five off 34 at one stage — he opened up. Fifty two of his next 92 runs came against Lyon off just 44 balls. The counter-punch meant Pant not only removed Lyon from the attack but he made Australia to go on the defensive as the visitors raced to 250, with one-and-a-half sessions still to play. When Lyon finally got him for 97, the hosts could finally afford to stop looking at the scoreboard.
When Pujara, on medication for a blow to the finger he took in Melbourne, left soon after another mini epic — 77 off 205 to take his overall contribution in the Test to 127 off 381 balls — the visitors might have worried. At the other end, Vihari had seemingly done major damage to his hamstring and was having trouble even completing routine singles. To compound matters, Ashwin had woken up with a sore back and was in unbearable pain. That was before the bowlers, with the new ball, peppered his body. He took blows to his arms, shoulder and the ribs. The blow to his ribs left him gasping for breath but he soldiered on. Vihari, with his career on the line, put his body on the line to soldier on.
Over after over was repelled. Tea came and went. Drinks came and went. They couldn't afford to leave it to the others to complete the job. Ravindra Jadeja, with a dislocated thumb, was in so much pain he couldn't even peel the skin off the banana. The tail comprised of Jasprit Bumrah, 17 Tests, Navdeep Saini, debutant, and Mohammed Siraj, two Tests.
Even as the Australians chirped and sledged, Ashwin and Vihari continued. Till they shook with the opponents with one over to go. Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion.