After taking a 15-run lead in the first innings, India’s best bet to win the Test was to bat Australia out of the game and in the process, take at least a 300-run lead in the second innings. The corresponding way available for Australia was to employ Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon as much as possible to do the damage up top. While Hazlewood was extracting a decent amount of movement even though the ball had already lost its shine, Lyon got the ball to drift into the right-handed batsmen all thanks to the amount of overspin he was imparting on the ball. It was a rather uneasy set-up, but that was one plan which was going to give them some sort of dividends. However, after the dismissal of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, India had already unleashed their two best batsmen - Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara - who have always been very good at adapting themselves to the crease. 

It was exactly where the problems for Australia started. Kohli had a strong record against off spin - averaging 55.75 runs per dismissal before this innings and Lyon was certainly not that big a threat for him with the normal side-on action. The trick for Kohli was to allow Hazlewood, who bowled more balls on good line and length, the time to be tired before taking the risk against others. It was a plan of who will blink first. The Lyon charge was evidently on Pujara. He used his feet expertly to the spinners, at times intercepting them on the full to push into gaps. In fact, more than half of the deliveries faced were met while advancing down the pitch and when Lyon shortened his length, the balls were left alone or defended easily. They kept the hands higher when playing the defensive strokes and negated Lyon beautifully. The Aussie duo tried hard, but none of the Indian batsmen was ready to give away, making for a brilliant session of Test cricket. 

The first innings Indian batting was awful, to say the least, and with Aussie bowlers keeping a tight line, India were completely baffled by the non-productive approach. Indian batsmen failed to understand the extra pace and bounce which would otherwise have been easy for positive shot-making, and their decision to choose one between vertical and horizontal-bat shots also made sure that Australia had a treat on the opening day of the Test. However, Rahul, Kohli, and Pujara made subtle changes in their approach and was very much assured while tackling the short balls. That helped them be right at the ball when they showcased their solid defensive game against bouncers. 

Winning a Test match is as much about skills as much as it about the luck. Toss plays a big factor and in a spinner-friendly wicket, teams never want to bat in the fourth innings. It was crucial in the sense that spinner would have an upper thanks to the rough created by the footprints and that’s why teams bowling in the third innings often stay critical about creating many marks, even though that means the advantage gets minimised. Today, Hazlewood and Starc ran on the surface, albeit a bit, to create rough marks on the surface and Nathan Lyon was happy to exploit that.