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After being written off (full acknowledgement - that includes me) Australia had a superb result to win the Third Test in some style but was that a mirage?

Check out the Racing And Sports Preview of the Indian Test tour to see if they can back that up.

INDIA v AUSTRALIA

Fourth Test

9 March – 13 March 2023 @ Ahmedabad

Sometimes weird things happen. And when it does you try to analyse it as best you can. But even after doing that you still struggle to comprehend it!

The lead up to Indore was one of a feeling of disappointment, disturbance and even desolation.

Australia had meekly surrendered at Delhi after being in a pretty commanding position. They had then lost their captain to a very sad circumstance at home and a senior batsman of significant standing within the group.

On top of that, Roland-Garros had not as red a clay outlook as Indore had prior to Day 1. Fast game is a good game they say and a short sharp one was anticipated. That became clearly evident very early.

With all that thrown into the melting pot, you'd be forgiven for believing another thrashing was imminent. And yet somehow, the presiding Steve Smith was able to conjure the team together and win the big moments.

Strange to say but perhaps the biggest of those moments came as the 38th wicket of the entire event. With India a mere 70 odd in front, Pujara playing a blinder and the dangerous Axar ready to pounce as he had twice before, Smith intervened with a thing of beauty.

Rarely recognised for his fielding skills as much as those with the willow, Smith moved himself to leg slip with Lyon around the wicket.

A little flick off the pads saw the ball look to be racing for another boundary. But after his weight was moving left, Smith then did the hokey pokey, moved back right and snared it one handed. The gas that was building the Indore balloon quickly dispersed and the ground deflated.

You could understand and tell just what the captain knew of its importance. His demonstrative actions, fired up in nature, saw his team get around him and realise they now had the chance to be taken.

Even with that said, much of the overnight quandary intimated 78 could have been a bridge too far. Those late order collapses, even in the first innings (6 for 11), would not make any chase an easy one. Then Khawaja goes second ball – look out!

But to their full credit, Marnus Labuschagne and more brazenly Travis Head, played with freedom and rode their luck. Digging in under those circumstances were probably fraught with the danger of the next ball having your name on it. Make hay while … you know the rest.

Thus there were 12 boundaries hit and finger nails need not have been under pressure. No matter what inferences were drawn about Head's inclusion and abilities under these conditions, his exclusion from the First Test now seems a trifle outlandish.

And even if not completely a long term solution under any surroundings, he has to play for the now. Warner is probably not in the reckoning for England so would he even be the one to take the opening salvo at Birmingham?

In saying all that, you can't decry the efforts of the spinners who at worst, have matched the high quality of India's three so far.

Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar have a combined 40 wickets while Lyon, Murphy and Kuhnemann lose little by comparison at 38 which defies the logic of the two humiliating losses. Then again India suffered the same fate last week.

The outtake from the three games so far is how essentially both batting line ups have succumbed.

Even the locals are yet to show complete disdain. It's been Rohit's great hundred, the resoluteness of Axar with the tail and a few bits and pieces – that is all. Virat Kohli has looked to scrap and battle but with no return. This has become his pattern in the last year or so.

So whether this ends up a 3-1 or 2-2, there is a degree of deflation within both camps when they head off to different pastures. An IPL window might well be a nice circuit breaker in a few weeks.

Before that the final Test is at Ahmedabad. That has been a decent hunting ground for India without being a blazing trail. They've won 6 of the 14 tests there but strangely 6 draws have ensued too. These days it's a good job to get three days completed not five.

Just two years back, when England played back to back tests through Covid times, spin was again the feature. Well at least for one team as the Day/Night game saw England seduced to pick Anderson, Broad AND Archer. Yet in knocking over the locals for 145, it was 5 to Root and 4 to Leach. It didn't matter as India won by 10 wickets.

There will be no pace battery here. Both teams possibly go in unchanged unless there is a little tinkering but the same framework will apply.

Cheteshwar Pujara does have a test double century at this ground and was the only commanding figure at the crease at Indore so happy to stick with him as a bet in this fascinating game. Play more on the smaller run total then something on the greater value for a 50.

One thing is for certain. It has been a series of great conjecture, unusual moments and DRS glory. But the main take away is don't blink or you'll miss most of it.

See you for the Ashes when we start to hear a few parochial Brummie accents.