It was like Delhi during political turmoil. Apart from a lot of spiteful spin, there were altercations, posturing, surprises, send-offs and some statesmanship. And even as all that happened, 13 wickets fell (all but one to spin), Nathan Lyon registered his personal best, Ravindra Jadeja registered his first five-for, and Peter Siddle became the first Test No. 9 to score two fifties in the same Test. With one session to go on the third day, India were left needing 83 with nine wickets in hand. They couldn't yet begin celebrating; you never can on such a brutish bunsen.
More happened in two sessions than often happens in two days of cricket on other tracks. Australia took the remaining two wickets in no time, they stumbled at the start of their innings, then came back, then stumbled again (both times to Jadeja), then Siddle played the kind of stunner batsmen's dreams are made of, only to see India's top order came out attacking in what looked like a tricky chase. Who knows it might still be.
The day began with an altercation even before players stepped over the rope. In fact the fight was over who gets to step over the rope first. The Indian batsmen, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, were about to cross the rope when someone from the Australian huddle spoke. Ishant didn't seem pleased; this was only the start of pleasantries that would continued to be exchanged between the sides.
Lyon made light work of India with the first two balls of the third over of the morning, and Australia didn't want to stop the aggression. Out came Glenn Maxwell to open with David Warner. In the absence of batsmen technically equipped to fight it out on this pitch, such aggression against new ball was perhaps the best way to go. MS Dhoni, though, didn't give Australia too much of the new-ball privileges: R Ashwin bowled the second over, and was joined by Jadeja in the fifth. The in-and-out fields meant you couldn't possibly slog either.
Surreal sights then. Jadeja bowling to Maxwell in the fifth over of a Test innings. It didn't last: Jadeja got one to turn and stay low after pitching on leg, and the outside edge cannoned into the off stump. With an assured and aggressive innings, Ed Cowan showed it was probably not the best move after all to demote him. He capitalised on every loose delivery, and hit five fours in his 24, one of them a superb drive through midwicket after stepping down to Jadeja.
Even as Cowan's batting brought sanity, all hell broke loose at the other end. Jadeja trapped Warner with a dart, and the Indian fielders let rip with a choreographed and a long send-off. Warner has been the sledger-in-chief from Australia, and has been in the ear of the Indian batsmen since the start of the second innings of the match. There has been a short history to this needle with Warner, going back to the Australia tour. So that wicket would have brought Virat Kohli, in particular, and Jadeja natural and massive relief, and they just let it out.
The umpires, though, spoke to Sachin Tendulkar, who in turn, tapped Jadeja's shoulder a bit. With seemingly an appeal every ball, an explosion off the pitch every second, and a sledge every third, the umpires were intense pressure. Amid some incredible calls, Aleem Dar erred with the Phillip Hughes lbw, with R Ashwin's offbreak turning past off.
It was just as tough for Dhoni the keeper with the ball behaving like a drunk. Not only did he rotate the bowlers well - Pragyan Ojha's introduction brought about the crucial wicket of Shane Watson - he was sensational behind the stumps. Either side of the lunch break, Jadeja had caused havoc. He had removed Cowan before, and Steven Smith and Mitchell Johnson after the break. Then it was time for Dhoni to show off a less-celebrated trait.
Matthew Wade advanced to Ojha, was beaten by the dip, edged it onto the top part of his pad, and as the ball died to his right, Dhoni changed direction and not only completed a one-handed take, he proceeded to break the stumps just in case the umpire had missed the edge.
Siddle was not so dazed by that display, though. He went on a sensational counterattack, charging down to the spinners and clearing mid-off, and cover when mid-off was sent back, regularly. He looked as comfortable as any specialist batsman did on this track. With James Pattinson, he added 35 for the ninth wicket to take the score to 157; Australia had been 94 for 7 at one point.
Dhoni gambled now. He brought back Ishant, and Australia went after him. The first nine balls he bowled went for 12 runs. Then Ishant went round the stumps, and got one to reverse through Pattinson's gate. Dhoni had worked again. Fittingly he ended it with a stumping off a ball that could have been called a wide had it been bowling with restrictive intent.
Australia opened the innings with Lyon and Maxwell, and Lyon missed his hat-trick by inches as the ball turned well down leg and Wade missed a difficult stumping. Following that, India attacked the relative sameness of the attack. M Vijay fell on the reverse-sweep, but Pujara - who had not taken the field with a finger injury - kept on going after every small error. He was unbeaten on 40 off 39 balls at tea.
India 272 (Vijay 57, Pujara 52, Jadeja 43, Lyon 7-94) and 158 for 4 (Pujara 82*, Kohli 41) beat Australia 262 (Siddle 51, Smith 46, Ashwin 5-57) and 164 (Siddle 50, Cowan 24, Jadeja 5-58) by 6 wickets
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The final day of the series, in Delhi, resembled one of those when a crazy colourful storm from Rajasthan visits the capital.
While the storm is there, it is all encompassing, and promises apocalypse. Soon, though, it blows over, and you can't tell it had been there.
For about the first 200 minutes of the day, it was all mayhem: spiteful spin, altercations, posturing, surprises, send-offs and some statesmanship.
Twelve wickets fell for 170 runs, Nathan Lyon and Ravindra Jadeja registered their personal bests, Peter Siddle became the first No. 9 to score two fifties in a Test, but India knocked off the 155-run chase with shockingly consummate ease to win four matches in a series for the first time in their Test history.
Cheteshwar Pujara, opening the innings in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan and fighting a finger injury of his own, led the chase with his second fifty - 82 off 92 - which on this pitch must rank alongside one of his double-centuries. It might have been made to look simple, but it wasn't always thus.
Lyon, who had removed Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha with the last two deliveries of India's first innings, nearly had his hat-trick. M Vijay charged at him first ball of the innings, but the ball turned way down the leg side, and Matthew Wade missed the half chance.
In the next over, Pujara survived a close lbw shout, with a soft outside edge helping him. In the next over, Vijay was bowled while reverse-sweeping. That was the closest Australia came to having a chance.
Pujara and Kohli batted as if the events of the past two-and-a-half days didn't matter at all, as if the bunsen had lost all its fire. Which it hadn't; it was just clear-minded decisive batting on a spitter, making full use of every loose ball on offer.
There were drives, there were ramps, there were sweeps. From Australia there were loose balls, overthrows and misfields.
A minor blip interrupted India's progress as three wickets fell for five runs to reduce India to 128 for 4, a period during which Sachin Tendulkar failed in possibly his last innings at home. Pujara, though, refused to acknowledge all this, brought India level three successive fours, and let MS Dhoni, whose grey beard bears the traces of two previous whitewashes of India, finish the rest.
Enough of this drive on a clear sunny day. Back to the storm. Back to when there were skirmishes even before teams had crossed the rope. Over who should set foot on the field of play first. That resolved, Australia took the last two wickets in no time, restricting the deficit to 10.
Australia tried to surprise India by opening with Glenn Maxwell alongside David Warner. In the absence of batsmen technically equipped to fight it out on this pitch, such aggression against new ball was perhaps the best way to go. Surreal scenes followed: Jadeja bowling to Maxwell in the fifth over of a Test innings. It didn't last. In his first over, Jadeja got one to turn, stay low, hit the outside edge of Maxwell and canon into the off stumps.
With an assured and aggressive innings, Ed Cowan showed it was probably not the best move after all to demote him. He capitalised on every loose delivery, and hit five fours in his 24, one of them a superb drive through midwicket after stepping down to Jadeja. All hell broke loose at the other end, though.
Jadeja trapped Warner with a dart, and the Indian fielders let rip with a choreographed and a long send-off. Warner has been the sledger-in-chief from Australia, and has been in the ear of the Indian batsmen since the start of the second innings of the match. There is also a previous to this from the time India toured Australia, so that wicket would have brought Virat Kohli, in particular, and Jadeja natural and massive relief, and they just let it show.
The umpires, though, spoke to Sachin Tendulkar, who in turn, tapped Jadeja's shoulder a bit. With seemingly an appeal every ball, an explosion off the pitch every second, and a sledge every third, the umpires were under intense pressure.
Amid some incredible calls, Aleem Dar erred with the Phillip Hughes lbw, with R Ashwin's offbreak turning past off.
It was all Dhoni after that. First through Jadeja, a player he has backed when few did. Jadeja removed Cowan before, and Steven Smith and Mitchell Johnson just after lunch. The latter strikes were crucial as Smith and Wade had added 41 for the sixth wicket. His first ball after the break was a slider that Smith left alone to hit his off stumps. The next turned through the gate and knocked Johnson's middle stump over. Australia 94 for 7.
Siddle not only survived the hat-trick ball, he - much like Pujara - seemed to have brought his own pitch to bat on. Siddle was not so dazed by that display, though. He went on a sensational counterattack, charging down to the spinners and clearing mid-off, and cover when mid-off was sent back, regularly. He looked as comfortable as any specialist batsman did on this track.
Arund him, though, Dhoni put on an exhibition too. Wade advanced to Ojha, was beaten by the dip, edged it onto the top part of his pad, and as the ball died to his right, Dhoni changed direction and not only completed a one-handed take, he proceeded to break the stumps just in case the umpire had missed the edge.
Siddle was not too bedazzled. His assault continued. With James Pattinson, he added 35 for the ninth wicket to take the score to 157. Back to Dhoni then. He gambled. He brought Ishant on. The first nine balls Ishant bowled went for 12 runs. Then Ishant went round the stumps, and got one to reverse through Pattinson's gate. Dhoni had worked again. Fittingly, as with the bat, he ended the innings with a stumping off a ball that could have been called a wide had it been bowling with restrictive intent.
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