Hanuma Vihari slammed by fan for 'slow' knock, Harsha Bhogle gives it back to him in style

Indian batsman Hanuma Vihari seemed to have pulled his hamstring after coming into bat on Day 5 of the India vs Australia 3rd Test at the SCG. The right-hander was apparently struggling during the initial phase of his innings which is why he decided to play slowly and avoid running as he was the last of the recognised batsmen.

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Harsha Bhogle backs Hanuma Vihari for slow innings, calls it a brave knock

Vihari paced his innings at an unbelievable strike rate of less than 6, which didn't please a lot of fans. Several reactions poured in on Twitter as a certain section of fans slammed Vihari for not scoring runs quickly and going for the win. One such Twitter user lashed out at Vihari asking him what was wrong with him. The Twitter user further said that if he can't run, just try to score some boundaries and added that if the match is drawn, it will be as good as losing because India were in a winning position at one point of time.

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The tweet received a lot of mixed responses. Cricket analyst and commentator Harsha Bhogle also replied to the tweet as he backed Vihari. The veteran commentator stated that Vihari , who has a hamstring injury, cannot run and was playing a valiant knock for the team. Incidentally, Vihari belongs to Andhra Pradesh, a state which Bhogle hails from as well. Bhogle won a lot of support for his response on Twitter from Indian fans.

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India vs Australia live score update

Meanwhile, India who started their innings with an overnight score of 98/2 lost skipper Ajinkya Rahane early on Day 5. However, Pant who was promoted up the batting order stitched a 148 run partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara and brought back India into the game. The southpaw, who played a counter-attacking knock of 97, fell short of his century by just three runs.

After Pant departed for a well-made 97, all eyes were on Pujara and Vihari who had around 45 overs to survive. However, Pujara was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood for 77, leaving two new batsmen Vihari and R Ashwin at the crease. At the time of publishing this article, India's scoreboard read 320/5 after 127 overs. Vihari is batting on 15 (136) whereas Ashwin is unbeaten on 33 (104). India need another 88 runs to win in 9 overs whereas Australia need five wickets to take the lead in the series.

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SOURCE: HARSHA BHOGLE INSTAGRAM & BCCI TWITTER