Thereafter, joy erupted in India’s dressing room Akash Deep scored the ball on day four of the Brisbane Test at the Gabba that helped the visitors avoid a follow-up that “surprised” the Australian team, says off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
No. 11 Akash Deep joined Jasprit Bumrah after India lost their ninth wicket with the score at 213. The duo then built an unbeaten 39-run partnership before failing on Tuesday, taking India past 246 – the follow-up target.
In between, the camera focused on the Indian dressing room and showed an animated Virat Kohli, captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir high-fiving and bursting into laughter.

Akash Deep then hit Pat Cummins for a six to show off his long-range skills, which brought Kohli to the edge of the glass window in the dressing room to see how far the shot went into the stands.
The duo returned the next day and added eight more runs before Akash was bowled out for 31 by Travis Head’s part-time spin, leaving India bowled out for 260 runs, 185 runs behind Australia.
Speaking to Fox Cricket during a rain delay on Wednesday, Lyon said perhaps India’s top batters didn’t want to come out late on the fourth day to face the music, which is why they celebrated so much.

Lyon said the Australian team talked about it and were surprised.
“After the game we spoke about it and were surprised at some of their actions,” said the veteran off-spinner. “It looked to me like their top order didn’t want to beat last night (Tuesday) if we could get it done and push through the follow-up.”
This meant Australia had to bat again after India were bowled out early on the fifth day. The hosts went after Indian bowlers but lost 7 wickets for 89 runs and made a challenging statement at this point, leaving India with a target of at least 275 from 56 overs remaining on the day.
But after India reached 8 points without a loss, rain set in again which interrupted play and the game eventually ended in a draw, leaving the five Test series at 1-1.
“…I think we can be very proud of the way we did it. We really pushed this game to get to the position we are in at the moment,” Lyon said.