SIRAJ HALTED AUSTRALIA’S SECOND INNINGS

Tough tailenders put on an incredible seventhwicket stand of 123 after India were knocked down at 186 for 6 in the first innings, and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, who took 5 for 73 in Australia’s second innings.

It’s been a bumpy ride to Brisbane though. The wheels had come off in the first Test in Adelaide last month when Virat Kohli’s men were bowled out for a humiliating 36 in the second innings to lose the game by eight wickets. They then lost their captain to paternity leave, and at least six other players to injuries, most of them done in by hostile bowling.

Led by stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, the battered and bruised boys bounced back by punching big to win the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, fought out a draw in the following game in Sydney before breaching the home side’s fortress in Brisbane after 32 years. No wonder they were grinning from earto-ear — see 32 teeth?

Then there is 33, Australia’s new Catch-22 perhaps. It was the third time that the Aussies lost to India after taking a 33run lead — at Kanpur in

1979, Adelaide in 2003 and Brisbane now.

G.H. Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin were India’s other heroes during the thrilling series. With the top half gone, they had hung in for four and three hours to score 23 and 39 respectively while enduring hostile bowling to snatch a draw in Sydney that kept the series alive and India floating like a butterfly, before the bee sting in Brisbane.

● LED BY stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, the battered and bruised boys bounced back by punching big to win the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, fought out a draw in the following game in Sydney before breaching the home side’s fortress in Brisbane after 32 years. No wonder they were grinning from earto-ear — see 32 teeth?