Rain intervenes as they begin their response. Most observers assume that the target of 328 in the 98 remaining overs is impossible to attain, on a wearing fifth-day pitch with ominous cracks opening up, the Aussies snarling at the bit, and more rain threatened. Maybe if it rains enough, some hope, we might hold out for a draw. Otherwise India is doomed.
Denouement: The fifth morning of the Test starts with India losing its talented opening batsman, Rohit Sharma. The Cassandras expect calamity. It doesn’t come.
Instead, every batsman pulls his weight: the self-possessed Gill, in his debut series, unfurling silken strokes before falling just short of a hundred; the doughty Pujara, standing solid as a wall for a half-century; the light-footed captain, Rahane, with a quickfire 24 to seize the momentum; and then, the astonishing Pant, his brilliance suddenly allied to a maturity he had not earlier revealed, stage-managing the miracle with the audacity of hope. With just three overs left…
