Travis Head has broken Indian hearts a few times with the bat, but at the MCG he claimed the wicket which gave Australia an opening for their dramatic final-session surge, although captain Pat Cummins revealed he was partly being used to help improve the over rate.
Head and Nathan Lyon sped through their overs after tea when India began the session just three down and Head managed to snare Rishabh Pant with a long hop that was pulled to wide long-on. Australia went on to claim seven wickets in 21 overs to secure victory early in the final hour on day five.
Slow over rates can lead to points deductions in the World Test Championship [WTC] and defending champions Australia, who paid the price for such penalties in the inaugural cycle, were lagging for most of the game. It has yet to be confirmed if they had caught up by the end of the match. Australia are bidding to join South Africa in the WTC final at Lord's and can secure their spot with victory in Sydney.
"He's got a bit of a Midas touch," Cummins said of Head's bowling at the presentation. "I'll give the coach credit for that one [bringing him on]. Also, we were a bit behind on the over rate, so we thought, get Trav in there, [he] might get a breakthrough and help us out with some overs."
Head referenced his lean returns with the bat in this Test, where he made 0 and 1, having scored centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane when asked about his key contribution.
"I've had four-and-a-half days off, didn't feature, thought I'd watch the boys bat this week," he told the host broadcaster. "And nice to contribute. I got told I was bowling [at tea], wasn't too pleased about things. We are a pretty relaxed group, [we] don't change too much, we knew what we had to do. Pat and Ronnie [head coach Andrew McDonald] come up with the plans, had a chat and we were able to go out and execute it.
"It [the Test] ebbed and flowed throughout the five days and [was] probably one of the best Test matches I've been involved in. No matter what the result was going to be, two teams went at it pretty hard. There were moments where both teams stepped up, moments where they fought and it's just nice we've been able to come out with the win. It's been a long five days."
When asked about plans for Pant specifically, Head joked. "Bowl a rank [long hop] and have everyone on the fence. I just threw them down there, see what happens and it turned our way."
There was also an explanation from Cummins of Head's wicket celebration, which referred to an on-going joke about putting his spinning finger in a glass of ice.
Although Australia emerged with a 2-1 lead and are now within touching distance of their first series victory over India in ten years, they do head to Sydney with a couple of areas of concern: the form of Mitchell Marsh and the fitness of Mitchell Starc who battled what appeared a rib or back problem during the match.
Starc bowled superbly on the final day, claiming the wicket of Virat Kohli, and Cummins was upbeat that he would be available for the final Test.
"I'm pretty confident he'll be fine," Cummins said. "We'll reassess in a couple of days. He's managing a couple of sore bits, mainly one sore bit on his ribs or something. But he's a warrior, he gets through, his pace didn't drop off, he didn't even contemplate not being an option to bowl. So other than being in pain, he's fully fit and available."
Should Starc not be right, it would bring Jhye Richardson into contention for a recall. Richardson, who played his last Test in the 2021-22 Ashes, was released from the squad on Monday so he could feature for Perth Scorchers against Adelaide Strikers on New Year's Eve and will then link back up in Sydney on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Marsh has made 73 runs at 10.42 in the four Tests alongside claiming three wickets at 46.33 with all those coming in Perth. Uncapped allrounder Beau Webster is part of the squad should the selectors opt to make a change.