Hanuma Vihari, whose valiant efforts alongside Ravichandran Ashwin helped India salvage a draw at the SCG in the third Test against Australia, left for home on Friday after being ruled out of the final Test with a hamstring injury.
Vihari, who scored an unbeaten 23 off 161 balls and stitched a 62-run stand off 256 balls with Ashwin for the sixth wicket, battled through pain as he took on the menancing Australian bowling attack on a dying SCG track.
After the match, he was taken for scans which revealaed a Grade 2 tear and subsequently was ruled out of the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series at the Gabba.
"Until next time," Vihari tweeted as he shared a picture of himself at the airport.
Sharing his picture, BCCI tweeted, "He was battling pain and discomfort but never let his resolve deter even momentarily on the momentous Day 5 in the SCG Test. Today, he heads back to India. Wish you a speedy recovery @Hanumavihari Flexed biceps #TeamIndia."
Although the effort was just of 62 runs, the pair did not just battle through pain, with Ashwin suffering a back injury, the two tackled the new ball to bat for 42.4 overs to stitch the fourth-longest partnership for the sixth wicket in the fourth innings for win or a draw.
Vihari is now likely to miss the England Test series at home which begins from February 5 onwards, but was happy with his effort and felt that had he been fit, India would have chased for a win.
"Getting a draw was a fabulous result. If I was fit, if I was not injured, and Puji [Cheteshwar Pujara] was there for some more time we would have had a different result, may be. It would have been a fabulous win. Nonetheless 10 points of this game is a massive result for us," he told while in conversation with Ashwin on bcci.tv.
