By the end of the day Australia had given up, because there was nothing else left to do.
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Such was the totality of Jasprit Bumrah’s dominance and mastery of a craft he has now redefined, the Australians had decided that any of his overs were to be treated like a bomb that needed defusing. Playing cricket could wait for whoever was bowling at the other end.
It is difficult to be surprised by Bumrah anymore. He moved from curiosity to threat to champion so quickly during his initial tours of Australia that it feels like he’s been around forever, befuddling Australian batters like few before him.
But what he produced on Sunday at the MCG was still extraordinary, even by his standards. It was the sort of spell reserved only for the greats of the game, the sort of spell that creates legends.
More importantly, it’s the sort of spell that wins Test matches and clinches series.
The raw stats might not fully agree and recency bias is most certainly at play, but there was no way to watch his deeds on day four in Melbourne, stack them up against all of his previous feats in this country, and not come to the same conclusion.
Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler we have ever welcomed to Australia.
He is the best bits of every other champion raider combined. The pace and threat of the legendary West Indians, the swing and guile of Sir Richard Hadlee, the relentlessness and craft of Dale Steyn.
Bumrah’s abbreviated run-up and manipulation of a batter’s mind even allows him to stand alongside the great spinners to have conquered Australia, making him a totally unique prospect. There is no escape, he is always on top of you, and always two steps ahead.
Fittingly, in the midst of his onslaught he became the first man to reach 200 Test wickets with an average of under 20. He’s rewriting the record books.
His spell in the middle of the day, in which Bumrah did the bulk of the work in an horrific Australian collapse of 4-11 in 22 balls, was his masterpiece.
Watching Bumrah bowl is like Mr Squiggle at work. The brushwork is unfamiliar, the colours all out of whack, and none of it makes a lick of sense until the precise moment he flips the canvas around.
Never before have subtle angles and seam positions and leg-cutters combined to create something quite so beautiful.
Jasprit Bumrah gives Sam Konstas a taste of his own medicine after bowling the debutant. (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)
He got Sam Konstas with the one that darted in, Mitch Marsh with the one that leapt and went away, Alex Carey with one that did a little bit of both. In the meantime he brought Marnus Labuschagne to his knees time and again, the batter’s thigh pad meeting the ball far more than his bat.
Australia was in a solid enough position when Steve Smith was dismissed flaying at a Mohammed Siraj wide one not long after lunch. Usman Khawaja and Labuschagne had scratched around through the morning, and though the scoreboard hadn’t progressed, a platform had been constructed.
The next three men in — Travis Head, Marsh and Carey — were the run-scorers. With the threat of new-ball implosion navigated, the hitters had the chance to do the hitting and set up a match-winning lead.
Instead Rohit Sharma, in his finest moment of the entire series so far, sensed the moment and threw the ball to Bumrah. And in three overs he changed everything.
Bumrah scythes through Test matches like a tornado, here and gone in quick time but with a bemused trail of destruction behind him.
It’s why Labuschagne, even while knowing every single run on offer was going to be absolutely crucial to Australia’s chances, refused to let Pat Cummins face up to the Indian champ — one wicket could bring three in the blink of an eye.
It was a day of random bursts of acceleration, Australia regularly caught between tactical plans and forced to respond to Indian inspiration. Whenever the time would arrive for Australia to up the ante, Bumrah or Siraj or a farcical run-out would intervene.
Mitchell Starc was run out in a horrible mix-up with Pat Cummins. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)
Labuschagne, to his credit, fought like hell in the face of an avalanche. He didn’t necessarily bat well, but he batted tough and the 70 runs he eventually scraped together were worth their weight in gold.
Cummins, when he was allowed to have a bat, provided yet another potentially telling contribution with the bat. His 41, combined with an incredible 55 put on for the last wicket so far between Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland, turned an impending Australian disaster in a blockbuster day-five finale.
Australia’s batting tactics post-tea, after Bumrah had done the bulk of his damage, were noteworthy. Having started the day with thoughts only of winning the Test, it was clear that some self-preservation was now at play.
In the wake of Bumrah’s brilliance, a draw was now a palatable result for Australia. Such a thing would have been unthinkable 48 hours earlier.
Jasprit Bumrah obliterated Australia’s middle order after lunch. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)
Having batted through to stumps, Australia significantly lowered India’s chances of winning the game, but also its own. The draw is a live prospect, a get-out-of-jail-free card available to be played by either side should things get hairy on day five.
India will now require something close to a record run chase at the MCG to win this Test, but will be encouraged by the state of the wicket, which remains good enough that Boland could face a relatively comfortable 65 balls.
Ten wickets is the simple target for Australia, each one likely to be a challenge for a battle-weary bowling attack.
The hope for any Test match is that it gets to a fifth day with every possible result, and that is exactly what we are presented with in Melbourne. The cherry on top is that the fate of the series and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is very tangibly at play.
The Gabba Test of 2021 between these two teams will forever be spoken of as one of the greatest ever played. Incredibly, we might be on the verge of its sequel.
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