Watch: Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli celebrate wildly in dressing room as India avoid a follow-on in Brisbane

The fighting partnership between Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah helped India avoid the follow-on on Day 4 of the third Test match between Australia and India at the Gabba. The visitors broke the 250-run threshold thanks to the pair’s undefeated 39-run 10th-wicket stand, which gave the Indian camp optimism.

Australia scored an incredible 445 in the first innings, and India needed 195 runs to escape the follow-on after starting the day at 51/4. In KL Initially, Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja kept the ship afloat with Rahul’s 84 and Jadeja’s valiant 77. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, however, caused chaos, dropping India to 213/9 and making the follow-on seem overwhelming. India was put behind the curve by the Australian bowlers, especially Cummins, who had stats of 4/80. However, the Indian lower order, which was led by Bumrah and Akash Deep, had different ideas.

Akash played a short-of-length delivery outside off-stump while deep in a heated moment against Cummins. When the ball soared over the gully for a boundary, the Indian dressing room erupted in relief.

Coach Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma all gave each other high fives as the Indian camp erupted, demonstrating the moment’s importance.

आकाशदीप और बुमराह ने फॉलो ऑन नहीं, संभवतः मैच बचा लिया है। #INDvsAUS #BGT2024 pic.twitter.com/mkCbE492is

— Utkarsh Singh (@UtkarshSingh_) December 17, 2024

He hit a six off the fourth delivery in the same over, sending the ball flying over mid-wicket. However, Bumrah remained calm, letting his teammate lead the assault on the Australians.

When stumps were called, India was 193 runs behind at 252/9 in 74.5 overs. Deep was still undefeated after scoring 27 off 31 balls, which included two boundaries and a six, while Bumrah was still undefeated after scoring a vital 10 runs off 27 deliveries.