On paper, a bowling line up of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon is potent enough to restrict any batting line-up. Last year, their collective bowling average in the Ashes was 29.15, and if you take the ongoing Sydney Test out, then their average this series was 27.80. Was it a bad one? Of course not. However, the same Shane Warne, who came forward and praised them for their superb bowling against England last year, didn’t leave any stone unturned to bash them on air. The question is, aren’t they statistically almost the same in this Test series, if not better? 

The point that Warne made in his stint at the Fox Sports commentary box is valid only if you compare that to India’s pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, and Mohammad Shami, which have created a reputation for themselves by being the most fearsome and highly effective bowling unit in the world at the moment. Also, the point must not be forgotten that India has two of the best batsmen of the modern-day Test cricket - Kohli and Pujara - and bowling to them is not the same as bowling to a Shaun Marsh or a Travis Head. When we say that Australian bowlers are not being able to find reverse swing, the question, we should ask ourselves - did Indian bowlers get anything in the first three Tests? 

Cheteshwar Pujara - a phenomenon

While Virat Kohli is striking the ball on average 2.2m away from his stumps to negate the swing and Rahane is opting to sit back and play on backfoot, Pujara did neither and decided to play the balls into different areas of the ground. During his knock of 193 runs, Pujara made sure that he scores run when the ball was on his pads and was cautious when the ball was outside off - a different approach that the past. His feet movement against the spinners was the stuff dreams are made up and before the ball, he got out, there was not a single chance conceded. Pujara hasn’t done any spectacular change to his style, but rather he has made sure that he wouldn’t do the same mistake that had cost him earlier. With the realisation of that, Pujara became a Test match phenomenon.

In England, Indian pacers were amazing at their job, but at various stages of the game, the likes of Sam Curran and Chris Woakes erased all the excitement constructed by India's fast bowlers, while their own lower order had shown a weak spine. Today was an exception. India’s top order fired and made sure that a repeat of Sydney 2004 was well within the reach. With Pant making noise and Australians fighting inner demons, Jadeja couldn’t have asked for anything better. He came and dominated, but that was characterised by patience and shot selection when Pant was firing. After Tea, he had to accelerate and made sure that India had a mammoth 622 runs on the board.