RAHUL AND JADEJA BRING ORDER AS INDIA TAIL WAGS

SOMEWHERE in the middle of the first innings, Virat Kohli rushed out of the Gabba dressing room, called up Abhimanyu Easwaran, told him something in earnestness and sent him off the ground.

- GOMESH S @ Brisbane

In the middle were Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep - India's tenth wicket pair - trying to avoid follow on. The duo had got together with 33 runs required to get to 246 on another rain interrupted day in Brisbane. They had, inch by inch, run by run, moved towards the total. And just before Kohli sent a message, Akash Deep had taken a swipe at Pat Cummins, albeit unsuccessfully. So, the message - as KL Rahul would confirm later - was simple.

The field was spread out. There was no hurry. So don't do anything extravagant and pick up singles as they had till then. India needed those runs more than anything else. They had started the day at 48/4. Rohit Sharma failed again. Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja came together to keep India alive. Australia had a small setback when they lost Josh Hazlewood to a calf injury. But Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc were steaming in. Multiple rain stoppages only allowed them to keep coming at the Indian lower order more intensely. Rahul scored fifty but missed out on another hundred. His 86 was the best of the lot with Jadeja making 77.