The last day in Sydney gave Team India the belief that they can pull off a heist: R Sridhar
R Sridhar has disclosed that the fighting draw in Sydney gave Team India the belief that they could go forward and upset the applecart of the Australian team at the Gabba.
Going into the final day of the Sydney Test, Team India needed a further 309 runs for a win with eight wickets in hand. But they were dealt an early blow when Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed in just the second over of the day.
Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara then stitched together a 148-run partnership to raise Team India's hopes. But the dismissals of the two set batsmen and the hamstring injury sustained by Hanuma Vihari made the team forego the chase. Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin then batted out almost 43 overs to help the team secure a creditable draw.
In the recent episode of the Star Sports show Cricket Connected, R Sridhar reflected on Team India's memorable Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph.
The fielding coach highlighted that the lows of Adelaide brought the team closer.
"Adversity brings people together. There couldn't be a lower point for any cricket team than that. We go all out for 36, probably the lowest score India got in the last 40-50 years or whatever that number is," said Sridhar.
He lauded the entire Indian team, including the departing skipper Virat Kohli and the new captain Ajinkya Rahane, for believing in themselves and turning things around.
"But that really brought the team together and we approached it practically and logically that one session like that should not really affect the kind of work that has gone in the last 4-5 years and credit to the entire team right down from Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and every single player who was part of that series. They believed that, they bought into that, they really rallied and the rest is history as they say," added Sridhar.
R Sridhar pointed out that Team India's fighting effort on the final day at Sydney gave them the belief that they could clinch the series at the Gabba.
"The last day in Sydney, that really gave the team the belief that they could actually kind of pull off a heist in Brisbane," highlighted Sridhar
The entire Team India had a quiet determination to breach the Gabbatoir: R Sridhar
R Sridhar mentioned that the entire team had the steely determination to put it across Australia at the Gabba.
"Somewhere at the bottom of their hearts everyone had this quite determination to do well, everyone had this quiet determination to breach the Gabbatoir," concluded Sridhar.
Team India required 324 runs on the final day in Brisbane with all ten wickets in hand - an equation almost similar to the one in Sydney. They lost an early wicket again in the form of Rohit Sharma.
But they did not let the opportunity slip this time around, with Shubman Gill (91), Cheteshwar Pujara (56), and Rishabh Pant (89*) being the chief architects of the run-chase.