All-rounder Hardik Pandya, on Friday, had talked about waiting for the “right time” before he resumed bowling medium pace. The right time arrived on Sunday, a bit early one assumes, when the Australia batsmen were pounding the India bowlers.

Virat Kohli, it seemed, had no other option but to try out Pandya, the bowler. Not that it made any difference to the outcome of the match, but Pandya — who was “not 100 per cent fit” to bowl till the other day — resuming bowling comes as a relief to the India camp.

“It’s refreshing to see Hardik bowl again, isn’t it?” said Rahul at the post-match media conference. “It takes a load off the skipper and the rest of the team.”

With his remodelled action, Pandya didn’t do badly either in the four overs he bowled, taking the prized scalp of centurion Steve Smith and conceding only 24 runs at an economy rate of six.

Captain Kohli also agreed that Pandya kind of showed the other bowlers how to survive on a placid track with his off-cutters and slow bouncers. “I think he gave away a bit of (our) bowling plan with his off-cutters,” the skipper said.