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'At tea in SCG, support staff told me I owed India a draw'

January 21 2021 by Prakash Govindasreenivasan
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Hanuma Vihari got the job done for India in the third Test on the final day as they hung on for
a draw.
Hanuma Vihari got the job done for India in the third Test on the final day as they hung on for
a draw.
Hanuma Vihari was not at the Gabba to soak in the moment when India defied odds on
January 19, but will go down as one of the protagonists of their immensely-dramatic,
scarcely-believable comeback within a month from the lows of Adelaide. In an exclusive
interview, he talks about the day after 36 all out, Ravi Shastri's message to him after an
avoidable first-innings run-out in SCG, the chats through various stages of his partnership
with R Ashwin as they battled injuries, and living up to tough Tea-time expectations to earn
himself a story that his grandchildren will not hear the end of.

Excerpts...

Between a bad back for Ravichandran Ashwin and your hamstring injury on the last day in
SCG, how did you manage to take the focus away from the pain?

Yeah, there were tactical changes we made. When I was facing Nathan Lyon I couldn't
stretch much because of the hamstring. Ashwin took most of the strike against Lyon. I was
comfortable facing the fast bowlers and that worked well for us. That's the tactical decision
we took, and we got the message from outside as well. But other than that, we were in a
zone where we wanted to watch the ball and play but let the pain not affect us, although
there was pain. We could feel it at the back of the head, but looking at the bigger picture,
saving the match was more important for us at that point.

You injured your hamstring right at the start. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst), how
bad was it at the start and how much worse did it get with time in the middle...

(Laughs) It was always a 10 from the start to the end. I think at the end it was more of 15. It
was painful although I took painkillers. The effect of painkillers was only to the extent of me
going out and batting, but the pain was always there. The bigger picture was always to save
the game, the thought process was to bat 35-40 overs which we did. And it was all worth it,
pain or not, it was worth it.

Ashwin's injury happened long before he came out to bat. And when he did, you were
already hurt. So what was the first piece of conversation between the two of you?

When Ash came in, I told him 'See, I can't run. Only thing we can do is stand and play'. He
said 'likewise bro, I can't push for quick singles too.' So it worked really well that we had the
clarity of mind that we had to just stand and bat. But the confidence that he showed, the
body language and the determination with which he came in... I also got confidence that he
will be there until the end of day's play. We were in a zone where nothing could disrupt that.
Batting a session on a Day 5 wicket... the last session, with fielders close in, you can only
dream about it. I can't put it in words, but it is something that I am really proud of. All these
years you work so hard, grind it out in the first class arena, and facing the challenge and
facing the situation [of SCG], you feel that all the hardwork has paid off eventually.

The stump mic picked up a lot of talk between you and Ashwin. Even some chatter in tamil...

When you're playing to draw the game, sometimes communication plays a huge part. You
tend to go in a shell and you lose concentration sometimes. You can't afford to make a
mistake at that point so that is the reason why me and Ash were talking a lot during the
overs, between balls, pushing each other to play one ball at a time. Keep playing, '10 more
balls, 10 more balls', and we'll get close to the end of the day.

That was some experience. After five years if I have to look back at the Test match, I'd be
really proud of the effort that Ashwin and I put in. And this is a story that I'll be telling my
grand kids.

How different was the chat in the dressing room at the start of Day 5 and then when you and
Ashwin went in at Tea?

Actually at the start of the day the talk was to bat normally. 'Don't think of winning the game
or saving the game. Bat like how you would in the first innings,' which we did. Pujara batted
the way he does. And that Pant innings made us believe that we could've won the match.
Even when Pujara got out, if I was not injured and Jadeja was not injured then we really had
a chance. We had to get 130 runs (136)... but the thing was we were handicapped then. I
couldn't run and Jadeja couldn't bat at 100%. And Ash was only 50% fit. So we had to take a
back step but even that felt like a win.

So in the tea session when I went in, the support staff told me see you owe the team a draw
here because they kept faith in me in the first two games. Although I didn't get big runs, I
was batting well. They said you're batting well and a big score is around the corner. It wasn't
about the runs then, but I owed the team to bat that session. I took it up on me as a
challenge to give it back to the team and bat a session.

Who said that you owed the team a draw?

(Laughs) Actually Sri sir (Fielding coach R Sridhar) said this. He is very close to me. He's
seen my career from a very young age so he told me in a positive way that you take it as a
challenge. You owe it to the team so play this knock and show your real character and take
us through this difficult period.

How long did it take for the 36 all out to sink in?

I'll be honest, it did hurt. If it doesn't hurt then there's something wrong with our team. It did
hurt and we were obviously gutted. But after a day when we had a meeting, we just said that
let's look at this as a three-match series. Let's forget what has happened. Let's look at it as a
three-match series and win it. So that helped us. We put it behind us and moved forward and
made sure that we didn't let that performance affect us. It was easy to go into a shell and
give up on the series, but we didn't really do that. We showed that fight in the Melbourne
Test.

What have your chats with Ravi Shastri been like in this series? Anything specific that stands
out for you in the SCG game?

Yeah when I got run out in the first innings, he came up to me and said 'Don't worry about it.
It's just a brain fade moment and it can happen to anyone. You still have a second innings in
your hand. Just make sure you bat a couple of sessions and we'll be through.' And that's
exactly what happened. As a coach he has always wanted us to show some grit and fight,
and that reflected in our performances. The way he talks before games, that [confidence]
rubs off on all the players. That's the impact he had on the side even in this tour.

How does this series win compare to the one two years ago, which was India's first-ever in
Australia?

Both are equally important but I'd say this one was more challenging both on and off the
field. Because of the side they [Australia] were this time around and the amount of players
we missed through injury. And after the start we got, coming back from that and winning the
series... I'd say this series is one step ahead of what we won in 2018/19.

Ⓒ Cricbuzz

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