Indian batsman Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari, blue helmets, react as Australian players look on at the end of play on the final day of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia, Monday, Jan. 11
Hanuma Vihari's hamstring had pulled. R Ashwin was left bruised by a barrage of short balls from the Aussie pace attack. Ravindra Jadeja was in waiting in the dressing room with a fractured thumb. But India never gave up hope, even against one of the most menacing and relentless attacks in Test cricket, batting against the odds, to pull off another comeback for ages and hence draw the game at the SCG. The pair lasted 42.2 overs, withholding the early pressure from the quicks with the new ball, scoring 62 runs to keep the series level at 1-1. With the heroics on the final day on a dying pitch, India registered a few historic feats.
1979 was the last time India survived this long in the final innings of a Test match. They batted for 131 overs in the fourth innings, 97 of which were on the final day with eight wickets in hand. It was at the Oval in 1979 that India had shown such resilience in the fourth innings, batting for 150 overs against England. Since that Test, India have batted for 100-plus overs in the fourth innings only five more times.
| Score | Overs | Result | Opposition | Ground | Year |
| 429/8 | 150.5 | draw | v England | The Oval | Aug-79 |
| 364/6 | 131 | draw | v Pakistan | Delhi | Dec-79 |
| 334/5 | 131 | draw | v Australia | Sydney | Jan-21 |
| 397 | 109.4 | lost | v England | Lord's | Jul-02 |
| 333 | 100.1 | lost | v Australia | Adelaide | Jan-92 |
| 281/5 | 100 | draw | v Sri Lanka | Colombo (SSC) | Aug-97 |
Twice have India batted for the number of overs in the fourth innings to save the Test - against West Indies in 1948 in Kolkata is the only other occasion barring the Oval game in 1979.
131 overs is also the longest that an Asian team has survived in Australian conditions in the fourth innings to save the Test since 1979. There have however been three instances where Asian teams have survived more overs but all resulted in defeats - twice for Pakistan (145 overs in 2016 and 137.5 overs in 1990) and one for Sri Lanka (141.4 overs in 1989).
334/5 scored by India is the highest fourth-innings score by a visiting team at the SCG against Australia. It is also the second-highest score in a drawn Test, standing behind England's 335/5 in Adelaide in 1991. Only once has a visiting team scored more in the fourth innings and won the Test in Australia - South Africa (414/4) in Perth in 2008.
128 balls faced by R Ashwin in the fourth innings is the fifth-highest by a No.7 batsman, also making it the most he has faced in the final innings of a Test match.
256 balls were faced by Vihari and Ashwin in their sixth-wicket partnership. Only four times in Test history has a sixth-wicket pair faced more balls in a non-defeat, and first by an Indian pair.
