By no means would it be an overstatement to say that Jasprit Bumrah has been the biggest factor behind the still 1-1 scoreline in the ongoing series. India didn’t have much going their way following the victory in the series opener in Perth, but just as he has been doing since that teething opening spell at the Perth Stadium, Bumrah continued to play his role to perfection till the penultimate day of this Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Across nine spells on Day IV of the ongoing fourth Test, the tireless Bumrah finished with figures of 4/56 from 24 overs which gave India some hope of a positive result from this game. In fact, if India’s batsmen can hang in and avoid recklessness on a surface that remained pretty decent for batting even on the fourth evening of the game, they can certainly avoid defeat and be in with a chance of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well as keeping the World Test Championship final hopes alive.

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s maiden international hundred had sparked the visitors’ fightback on Day III, while Bumrah’s craft on Sunday may well have led to panic in the Australian dressing room, especially when his three-wicket burst in two overs had left the hosts wobbling at 91/6 from 80/2. Picking up Travis Head for the second time in the game after the left-hander played a loose stroke, Bumrah got one to rear up that got rid of Mitch Marsh in the same over before he nibbled one in his next over to clean up keeper-batter Alex Carey.

Prior to that Bumrah burst, Mohammed Siraj (3/66), finally getting his line and length right, had induced a faulty stroke from first-innings centurion Steve Smith after knocking Usman Khawaja over. With India’s new-ball pair at work, Australia, following Carey’s dismissal, were able to stretch their lead to just 196.

Earlier on the day, after India’s first innings ended at 369, there was a little bit of vengeance too for Bumrah when he broke through the defences of debutant Sam Konstas in the seventh over of Australia’s second essay. The ball cut in just a bit and sneaked through the gap between the youngster’s bat and pad to dismantle the bails.

Bumrah’s style of celebration pointing towards the crowd suggested he was a tad pumped up on giving it back to the 19-year-old, who had taken him on in the first innings.

The fourth-fastest among quicks to reach 200 Test wickets, Bumrah certainly deserved his third fifer of the series. He and the rest of Team India thought he had it in the day’s final over when Nathan Lyon edged one to KL Rahul at third slip.

Despite failing to hold on to the ball, Rahul ensured he had it in control between his shins, but unfortunately for Bumrah, he had overstepped. To err is human, and Bumrah too is one, although his workload on this tour tantamounts to superhuman proportions.

He can still get the fifer and his 30th wicket of the series, though, if Australia’s last-wicket pair of Lyon and Scott Boland play a few more overs on Monday. What also bodes well for India going into the New Year’s Test in Sydney is Siraj’s rhythm. Late in the day’s final session, Siraj got the ball to move back in and trap a set Labuschagne lbw for his third wicket.

This was certainly a far better showing from the pacer as he bowled with good control, not dishing out freebies as he did in the previous two Tests. Had Siraj held on to the caught-and-bowled chance presented by Labuschagne earlier, he could have finished with even better figures.