The thunderous roar was followed by a fist pump, a little shake of the head and a sigh of relief.
Jasprit Bumrah had just sent back India’s nemesis Travis Head with a back-of-a-length delivery from around the wicket at the Perth Stadium. But it was the preceding short ball that had set up the dismissal.
Head was forced to duck as it gained height over the middle-leg line and flew over Pant for five wides. As his instincts took over, Bumrah realised Head wouldn’t move out from his crease and was committed to the back-foot drive.
This time the ball moved away slightly and the angle made it difficult for Head to avoid the nick. Head gone and the possibility of the Test rolling over into the final day had evaporated.
Bumrah’s exuberance was comprehensible since Head’s twin tons had robbed India of both the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup titles last year.
The circumstances were slightly different in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Head’s defiant 89 had kept India waiting till after tea. The victory had been reduced to a formality after Australia had lost their top five within 79 in their chase of 534. Only the margin of victory remained a matter of speculation.
Having folded up for 150 on the first morning following a bold move to bat first, Bumrah’s three wickets in the first seven overs knocked the hosts over and they were doomed to trail in the Test.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli’s centuries ruined Australia’s chances and they had to play catch-up. The Aussies lay battered and bruised as Bumrah once again pounded them with two quick wickets on the third evening.
The stand-in captain has left Australia scarred with a spell of hostile and brutal fast bowling which will have a lasting impact on the outcome of the series. Much like Jeff Thomson’s 33 wickets in nine innings and Mitchell Johnson’s 37 in 10 in the 1974-75 and 2013-14 Ashes, respectively, had left an indelible mark on the psyche of the batters.
It will take a lot of valour from the Australian batters to dismiss Bumrah’s spell as a bad dream. The repercussions of his match figures of 8/72 will be deeply felt in their ranks as Bumrah turned the Test within a session.
Bumrah’s range of skills was also a reminder of how unhinging and psychologically scarring fast bowling can be, a throwback to the days when Dennis Lillee and Thomson ruled the fast and bouncy tracks Down Under.
There is no better sight than a fast bowler in full flow intimidating a batter with physical threat. There were several such moments over four days when the Australians had to summon courage to thwart Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana from spitting fire in tandem.
The likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Mitch Marsh were forced to hop around from copping blows on their body against the thunderbolts unleashed. Even a rookie like Rana looked intimidating as Labuschagne and Alex Carrey will testify.
Rana’s lucid action even got Fox Sports to put up a split-screen comparison with Lillee.
The 295-run defeat has already sparked talks of division in the Australia camp though Pat Cummins was quick to dispel such misgivings. Adam Gilchrist even questioned whether there was a “divide” in Andrew McDonald’s band of batters and bowlers.
A five-Test series is the ultimate test because of the chance for bowlers to expose batters’ weaknesses. Australia have a favourable record in the day-night Test in Adelaide next week but how they handle Bumrah will decide their fate.
