'India Fought Really Hard'- Steve Smith Doffs His Hat To Defiant India After Being Adjudged The 'Player Of The Match'

Former Australia captain Steve Smith has lauded Team India for their stoic defiance as the visitors survived as many as 97 overs on day 05 to eke out a draw for the ages at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Having started the day on a disastrous note with the dismissal of skipper Ajinkya Rahane, the quartet of Cheteshwar Pujara (77 off 205 balls), Rishabh Pant (97 off 118 balls), Hanuma Vihari (23* off 161 balls) and Ravichandran Ashwin (39* off 128 balls) held the fort for the Men in Blue in what was a true display of grit, defiance, at times flamboyance and character.

Smith lauded the character shown by Ajinkya Rahane’s men besides also heaping praise on his bowling attack for the way they persisted on what he termed as a fifth-day track that did not have much for the bowlers.

”India fought really hard. Our bowlers kept coming and coming, did their hardest today. On day three or four, we felt that a few kept low, few that bounced a bit more. But there was not much of it today. They fought really hard,” Steve Smith said at the post-match conference.

Smith, who was awarded the Player of the Match, for his knocks of 131 and 81, said it was a special feeling for him to get back in form on his home ground but added that it does not matter anymore since Australia were not able to get the job done on the final day.

On his approach in the Test match, Steve Smith said that it was a clear ploy by him coming into this match to be a bit more aggressive and dictate terms to the Indian bowlers

”Always means a lot when you score a hundred for your country. To be able to do that here on my home ground is pretty special. Doesn’t mean a lot now as we didn’t win the game. (We’ll) move on now to Brisbane, we have a very good record there. Looking forward to playing there in a few days time. Wanted to be a little bit more aggressive at times, went up and down through the gears throughout my innings, absorbed the pressure when needed to. Not too much else, just watched the ball hard and concentrated well. Nice to spend some time,” he added.

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