But the loss of Josh Hazlewood for the series with a calf injury, followed by India’s wriggle past the follow-on mark, were a pair of major blows to the hosts. They now know this series will be a hard slog, not a runaway victory: always a likely scenario when the first Test was lost by such a yawning margin.
“We were behind the game, it’s a little victory for us,” Rohit Sharma said of India’s relieved reaction to avoiding the follow-on. “We’ve ended up in a draw with Australia being ahead in the game but they didn’t manage to get the results. It’s a little victory.”
Further troubling news came with the sight of Head stretching a quad and hobbling slightly between wickets when he batted. After initial team denials that anything was wrong with him, Cummins conceded there was a niggle present. Australia simply cannot afford it to get any worse than that.
To win the series from here, without Hazlewood and with Bumrah still circling, will require plenty of fortitude from the Australians. They do not have a particularly good record at the back end of long series, sharing the traits of earlier generations of Australian sides to want to land the first punch.
Cummins and Starc will remember, painfully, how a 1-0 advantage in 2020-21 was squandered in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. That series led to questions about whether Australia should have rotated their bowlers more. Scott Boland then emerged as a Test-class fourth seamer in the squad, but neither he nor the aforementioned duo are getting any younger.
More recently, Australia squandered a 2-0 lead in the Ashes in England, needing rain in Manchester to retain the urn before losing at the Oval to leave the contest tied.
Cricketing mortality has now cast a shadow over the series: the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin after he was left out of two of the first three Test matches is a reminder that Australia, too, have some difficult conversations coming up.
Jasprit Bumrah in delivery stride.Credit: Getty Images
They will not be made any easier should Bumrah maintain his stranglehold on the Australian top three, of whom Khawaja is the oldest member.
“I think that one you can dismiss,” Cummins said of day five’s rush of wickets. “Really proud of everyone going out there and trying to win the Test match. We’re big on buying into a game plan and a style and they went out there with intent.
“A day five wicket as well is really tricky, so they were right up against it, but today I wouldn’t look into it too much, it was more about trying to get ourselves to a number rather than trying to preserve wickets.”
Typically for Cummins, those were well-ordered and logical thoughts. But there is little ordered or logical about the Bumrah experience, so well does he scramble a batter’s mind. Bumrah has Australia’s number, and the Brisbane monsoons have ensured he will go to Melbourne and Sydney with the chance to have the last word in this series.
