India crack without lone warrior Bumrah leading them on his shoulders

Jasprit Bumrah just sat there in his whites. His head was bowed, his shoulders were slouched. There was nothing he could do now. There was nothing India could do now. All Australia required to regain the Border Gavaskar Trophy was 15 runs. And India's nemesis, Travis Head, was leading Australia's charge as always to thwart their faint hopes of levelling the series.

Bumrah would have loved nothing more than to be out there. India would have loved nothing more than for Bumrah to have been out there. But after five gruelling Tests, where he'd carried the visitors on his back, his back had given up. It's of course an assumption that it's his back. Maybe it was a side strain. Maybe it was something else. But we'll never know.

The fact was that after weeks of depending largely on Bumrah to keep them afloat in their quest to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy, India were left with having to forge their way one final time without their lone warrior.

For nearly seven weeks, India's hopes had rested on Bumrah's shoulders. No longer now. To their credit, the Indian new-ball bowlers in the absence of their talisman, had created an opening. A bit more than an opening.

But the legs were tired. So were the minds. One can't blame either Mohammad Siraj or the youngster Prasidh Krishna, who is still trying to find if he belongs at this level. Virat Kohli too tried his best from the slips, gesturing them to bowl in the channel outside off and doing everything he can as the 'captain'. But then he can't bowl for them, though Krishna did improve, started hitting the deck and more or less got the right channel. But Siraj, despite gamely trying, couldn't quite find his radar. The small target didn't help either. In a blink, the chase was not only underway but had reached a point where even Kohli had to fall silent.

Spare a thought for Kohli. When he set out for this series, he must have known that this was his last Test series in Australia, where he built his name, reputation, and a following that grudgingly respected him and dare say, even liked him for his persona. But his bat deserted him after the second innings in Perth, and he tried his best but couldn't regain it. In the nets, he worked hard as ever, trying different tweaks. Standing outside the crease, standing inside, moving back, pressing forward, but the demon lay in his hands which couldn't resist stabbing at outside-off deliveries.

This was Kohli's last dance on Australian soil. It hadn't worked out for him with bat in hand. He'd walked out with his chest puffed out the previous evening for what was his final Test innings in a country he's always loved batting in. But he had to leave the crease in a Test in Australia for the last time, cursing himself. Such is life.

But he still had Sunday. Perhaps he can work some magic as a leader, make the Indian bowlers forget that Bumrah wasn't there. That they can do something on their own. Just like they had done on Saturday when Bumrah had left.

But perhaps even he would have known that outside inspiration wouldn't last long. Not for two days in a row. Not when there is no rest for the bowlers. Not when their legs and mind is done. Not when the true match pressure is on. Not when the end line is near. Kohli tried but at one stage in the afternoon, even he must have realised he can't orchestrate things beyond his control.

Especially when Travis Head is in the middle. The man who knows how to stub out the Indians in big moments. Especially when Usman Khawaja knows Bumrah isn't here and he has his chance at having a substantial knock for once in this series. And he does, clipping of his hips, flicking of his legs, and cutting behind point. Those shots also tell us that the bowling radar wasn't great but Khawaja understandably took it with glee. Though he fell, trying to pull and underedging Siraj, Australia still had the 31-year old Test debutant Beau Webster, the man who replaced Mitch Marsh and who had already hit a fifty in the first innings. He pulled, cut, punched and as he would say later, "Counted the number of runs left" while being totally "confident" that the chase was in control. And it was. Not even Kohli could do anything.

And finally came the moment: Webster charged down the track to smash Washington Sundar over mid-off. Webster screamed, Head lost his head, Pat Cummins rushed out of the dressing room to celebrate with Steve Smith, who now has to wait for his 10,000th run in Galle in Sri Lanka later this month, but that perhaps was the last thought in any Australian's mind in that moment.

It says something about India that in this moment, a Test series win at home against them can feel almost alien for Australia. Such has been the last decade. That it has come down to Cummins, who downed India in the last WTC final, who knocked out India at their own den in Ahmedabad, and has now clinched the BGT trophy. A sweet denouement awaited him. Even as he was talking to the press about his captaincy future and how he "might struggle" to make it for the Sri Lanka tour later this month, his wife and daughter barged through the door. Not the shoulder barge that one has spent enough airtime and bytes on, but pure awww.