Jasprit Bumrah stood near the stumps on a pitch adjacent to the main pitch. It was in the morning, much before the start of day 3 at the SCG that turned out to be the final day of the match and the series. The question that hung overnight was if Bumrah would be fit to bowl. Pat Cummins would later say that “every time he bowled he seemed to have an impact and took some key wickets. So yeah, no doubt that helped our chase”.
By evening there was a sense of flatness even in the large sections of Australian fans in the stands near the dressing rooms, muttering about an “anti-climatic’ end. But in the morning, there was still hope among Indian fans when they spotted Bumrah near the pitch.
On the other side, quite a few of the Australian squad were present, many of whom had their necks craned on the Indian side. Bumrah threw one look at them, walked up to the stumps and went through imaginary bowling drills—walking to the stumps, and releasing. But all eyes were fixated on the Indian dressing room when the innings was wrapped up quickly by Cummins and Boland who ended up with a six-for and his first first-class ten-wicket haul (10 for 71).
One by one, the Indians filed out but there was no sign of Bumrah. Those Indians already in the arena got together for the huddle, when someone ran out of the dressing room to join them. It was KL Rahul, and not Bumrah. And that was it; day’s and the series’ fate was decided. “Disappointing, probably missed out on the spiciest wicket of the series,” Bumrah said later.