India must breathe a lot easier now, knowing they are in a much better situation in the match despite not being out of the woods yet. The chances of the match ending in a draw look most likely, with two more innings to unfold over three sessions, rain notwithstanding. Having said that, it wasn’t always the case. With 33 runs needed and one wicket hand, India feared the worst, admits Rahul, which prompted the opener to prepare himself to approach the second innings mentally should the need arise.

“It’s very good to see when the lower order chips in and scores runs. That’s something we discuss a lot in our meetings and the bowlers work really hard on their batting as well. Really good to see that they can go there and get that little partnership and avoid the follow-on. [It] makes a huge difference knowing that there is a bit of rain around and so much of the match has been lost because of it. We had to find a way to stay in the game and Akash and Bumrah did that. Good way to end the day for us,” Rahul said about Akash and Bumrah’s effort.

“At that stage (213/9), I was thinking more about going and padding up and trying to go back to bad. I’m not sure if they would have enforced the follow-on, so I was thinking about what I need to do about my batting. But it’s always nice to see bowlers go out there and get some runs, they put in a lot of efforts in the nets and when it mattered today, I’m happy that they could really play some shots and very exciting shots. It was a very exciting contest in the last half an hour… not just the runs that they got but also the heart that they showed to keep away the bouncers, get behind the ball, defend well, play some nice shots. It will give them and the team a lot of confidence.”

Akash Deep urged to ‘calm down’

But the road to avoiding the follow-on wasn’t easy. Australians were relentlessly probing away, but hats off to Bumrah and Akash for showing tremendous restraint in their approach. Neither batter tried the big shots and focussed on playing orthodox and grounded strokes. Akash’s punches of the backfoot were a treat to the sore eyes, one that would have made any top-order batter proud.

However, the one time Akash tried to whack one out of the middle, India needed just four away. The team management quickly noticed Akash’s lapse in concentration and took immediate measures. A visual showed Virat Kohli come out to the dressing room balcony to convey some message, with Rahul explaining the entire process.

“It’s very simple. Try and get those runs. Don’t have to try and do it with a boundary but just knock it around with singles. They (Australia) had spread the field so the singles were there to be taken. So just stay a bit more patient because just before the message went out, we saw that Akash tried to hit a boundary, so just a message to calm down and see if they can get 5-6 singles and avoid the follow-on,” he added.

Akash was able to get his swing of the long handle when he smashed Pat Cummins deep into the stands over long-on.