Edged and dropped.
Over the last month, we have witnessed one of the most memorable Border-Gavaskar trophies ever to be played. Yes, I can confidently say this even before the last test match of the series will be played. This series wasn't as star-studded as the previous ones have been but I can vouch that the Indian fans would have been euphoric if they were told at the beginning of the series that, after the 3rd test, the series will be leveled. The low-scoring series has been an arm wrestle. Every day of each test match induced an upset or surprise from both the teams.
As an Indian fan, I was awed by the third match, just because of the sheer injustice in it. Three players on the Indian side were characters in the injury saga going around the world. The Indians had spent 2.5 of the four days in the field before going out to bat on day 4 with an enormous 406 run chase. No way was the match going to be a draw.
I am not going to fire statistics and numbers your way instead, I will tell you how beautifully or annoyingly (depending on which team you support) the game was flawed. An Australian team dropping six catches is borderline absurd for a cricket fan.
This article is not a jibe at the efforts of the Indian cricket team. They were astonishing with their endless fight. It is a moment of realization at the overwhelming nature of the sport. In terms of cricket, The Aussies had clearly and overwhelmingly outplayed the Indian side, but they received criticism as they failed to portray character. It has been clear to cricket fans around the world that the sport demands a lot more than just skill. It demands resilience. The resilience part of the ledger curved towards the Indians. The Indians weren't there to play, they were there to intimidate arguably the best team in the world.
Every player on the field is playing two games parallelly: mental and physical. The shorter formats of the game are determined majorly by the latter. The purest form of the game balances the scale as it allows you to be a rebel. It allows you to be defiant to the flow of the game, it is safe to say that the Indians were persuasively the defiant side in the match. They managed to saw down on the enormous tree, that is the Australian side, with nothing more than a blunt axe.