India vs Australia: When Shardul Thakur lied to Ravi Shastri during Sydney Test

India and Australia are all set to square off in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on 9 February in Nagpur. Whenever people talk about this famous bilateral red-ball series between the two sides, India’s gutsy win at Gabba and a commendable draw in the Sydney will forever be remembered as among the best games. In the 2020-21 series, which the Men in Blue won 2-1, the heroic efforts of Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari helped them to draw the Sydney Test.

Now, an interesting inside story of the Indian dressing room from the contest has been revealed in the autobiography of ex-fielding coach R Sridhar - ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team.’ According to Sridhar, apart from Ashwin and Vihari, Shardul Thakur had an immense contribution to the draw even though he was a substitute.

A number of prominent players suffered injuries before and during the clash, making the task even more difficult for the visitors. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who was also injured, came out to bat after taking a painkiller and played an exceptional knock of 97 runs off 118 deliveries. His 148-run stand with Cheteshwar Pujara built a good foundation for the fourth-innings chase. However, the Indian unit eventually landed in a tricky situation as they had to chase down 127 runs in the final session with only two batters - Ashwin and Vihari on the middle. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was also there in the lineup but his batting remained in doubt as he was suffering from a thumb injury.

Unfortunately, Ashwin and Vihari were playing with back and hamstring injuries respectively. Thus, it was quite difficult for Vihari to face spinners like Nathan Lyon due to his restricted movement. On the other hand, the veteran Indian spinner was struggling against the fiery pace attacks of the Aussies. According to Sridhar’s book, then-head coach Ravi Shastri was aware of the issues and decided on a strategy to get rid of the situation. During the Tea break, he asked Vihari to face the fast bowlers, while Ashwin was given the responsibility of Lyon.

Quick Reads

View All

'Won't require surgery...': Real reason behind Jasprit Bumrah's absence from 5th Test revealed in new report

PCB bans players from WCL over India-Pakistan match controversy

Sridhar explained, “Vihari and Ashwin came in at tea, and while we converged to congratulate and encourage them, a tactical call was also made. It was decided that Ashwin, at home against Lyon, would take on the off-spinner and Vihari would negotiate the three-pronged pace attack.”

However, after some successful overs, both batters started to lose their patience and began rotating strikes unnecessarily. It caught the attention of Shastri who sent Shardul Thakur to the field during the drinks break with a message that Ashwin and Vihari needed to stick to the plan, “no matter what happens.”

Sridhar recalled that Shastri had asked Shardul if he had forwarded the message, and the bowler had responded in the affirmative at the time. However, it was eventually discovered that Shardul had actually gone against Shastri’s instructions and lied to him. Sridhar believed that the fast bowler either misheard the instructions or refrained from interfering with the batters because they had just completed a 259-ball “blockathon.”

However, Thakur’s plan worked out well as Ashwin and Vihari remained unbeaten till the end. Lauding the bowler’s judgement, Sridhar wrote, “Hats off to him! He didn’t pass on Ravi’s message. Instead, he told the batters exactly what they wanted to hear at that time. Perhaps he realized that passing on the instructions, however steeped in logic they might be, could disrupt the flow of the batters and the zone they were in, so he passed on a message he thought was the best under the circumstances.”

Read all the  Latest News****,  Trending News****,  Cricket News****,  Bollywood News****,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook****,  Twitter and  Instagram****.