As Akash Deep’s attempted cut at Pat Cummins’ short delivery flew over the leaping gully fielder to the fence, it triggered wild celebrations in the Indian dressing room.

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir high-fived and Rohit Sharma too couldn’t hide his joy. The euphoria was for avoiding the follow-on after Australia had reduced India to 213/9 in the final session.

When a well-set Ravindra Jadeja hooked Cummins to deep square-leg and was caught by Mitchell Marsh, India still needed 33 to avoid the follow-on as Akash walked out to join Jasprit Bumrah.

“At that stage, I was thinking more about going and padding up and trying to go back to bat, probably,” KL Rahul said after the fourth day’s play, with no disrespect to any of his two teammates at the crease.

The last wicket pair has so far added 39 runs in an unbroken stand fuelling frustration in the Australian camp
who were a bowler short after Josh Hazlewood went down with an injury.

A ball later Akash smashed the Australian captain over mid wicket for another six and the dressing room couldn’t hold back its glee. The shot brought Kohli onto his feet as he ran to the edge of the glass panel to see how far the ball had travelled.

Both batters showed exemplary display of controlled aggression to blunt the Australian attack as they moved closer to avoiding the follow-on target of 246. Bumrah even hooked Cummins for a six to set the stage for a fight. At the close, Akash was batting on 27 and Bumrah on 10.

“There was a desperation to get that final wicket and we thought we had a really good chance when Jadeja was dismissed,” Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori said.

Vettori acknowledged that India’s last wicket pair were belying their career records, but it came as no surprise.

“Don’t think we assume that anyone is going to live up to their average,” Vettori said. “Think you look at those averages and you think there’s not much there, but Bumrah has proven that he’s been able to put on partnerships, proven that he can attack and he can defend, and Akash Deep is better than a No. 11.”

With rain forecast on the final day, it will be tough for Australia to push for a victory. Both teams are thus expected to go into the Boxing Day Test with the series tied 1-1.

It ignited memories of the 2021 series when Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin stonewalled Australia’s effort to snatch a victory in the third Test in Sydney. Although their alliance produced only 62 runs, Ashwin and Vihari battled for 256 deliveries, the fourth-longest partnership for the sixth wicket in the fourth innings of a Test.

A remarkable aspect of their stand was that Ashwin was battling a bad back while Vihari had to bat with a strapped right hamstring.