The question on day four of the first Test wasn't about whether India would win -- the question always was, when, and by how much.
Within minutes of play resuming post tea, by an emphatic margin of 295 runs, were the answers.
It is arguably one of the best wins by an Indian Test side in living memory -- particularly because it was a comeback win, after being bundled out for 150 in the first innings.
And that comeback was sparked by one of the most remarkable spells in Tests, and not just by an Indian bowler.
The damage Jasprit Bumrah's six overs on day one for nine runs and three wickets did to Team Australia's psyche is incalculable.
India will go into the second Test -- a pink ball day/night affair at Adelaide beginning 6 December -- feeling particularly buoyant.
The team arrived in Australia burdened by the 0-3 defeat at the hands of New Zealand; if that left any demons in the mind, those have been duly exorcised.
More to the point, India will be enormously heartened by the fact that all its frontline batsmen made runs; that K L Rahul is in good form; that Yashaswi Jaiswal has announced himself as a generational talent with a knock of 161 in the second innings that the world's cricketing media is still gushing about; that Virat Kohli shrugged off his run of poor form in recent times and dug deep within himself to find the skill, the mental strength, and the determination to produce a century on a wicket that was still challenging.
And equally relevant, all of India's bowlers contributed to the win. India used all five bowlers in the second innings, and all of them responded with wickets at crucial moments.
Going into Adelaide, the two teams could not be in more contrasting spaces. Australia's problems -- exacerbated by yet another top order collapse -- is in who to pick.
India, with Rohit Sharma back, Shubman Gill almost a certainty to play, and Mohammad Shami due to land well before the second Test, has the opposite problem: Who to drop?
The coming days will provide answers; meanwhile, that is it from Stumps for this Test.
Here's Prem Panicker's unique take on all the action from the fourth day of the 2024-2025 Border Gavaskar series.
Rediff.com's Production Team: Hitesh Harisinghani, Rajesh Karkera, Manisha Kotian, Satish Bodas.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani
