Perfect start to total disaster: India suffer shambolic 1-3 loss

It was the sigh from the crowd that gave it away.

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From the moment it was revealed that the pacer had been laid low by a back spasm on Saturday to the moment when the players gathered in the team huddle on Sunday without him, the hope was that Jasprit Bumrah would somehow work another miracle for the Indian team.

But it wasn't to be. The star of the series was unable to bowl a single over in Australia's second innings as India lost the fifth Test by six wickets and their hold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade. The 3-1 loss is a just reflection of how the series went. Repeated batting troubles, lack of performances by skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, being overtly reliant on Bumrah to bail them out of every situation, lack of communication between the head coach Gautam Gambhir and the senior players all contributed to the debacle.

Coming into the series on the back of a 3-0 home loss to New Zealand, India started this series better-carving out an incredible win at Perth after being bowled out for 150 in their first innings of the tour. That burst in the final session of Day 1 set Bumrah up for his greatest show in a Test series.

It was meant to inspire the others into action too.