Nostradamus wept. Or he would have if he had to call this Test.



You can study the tea leaves, read the runes, examine the entrails, but what do you do when every single indicator is pointing you in the wrong direction?



There was nothing to indicate, before this Test began, that India would be bundled out inside 72 overs for just 189 after winning the toss. Or that an off-spinner, even a quality one like Nathan Lyon, would end up with 8 for 50.



When Australia in its first innings settled down to play with dogged determination, intent on not giving away wickets, content to score at a pace that would have been scoffed at even 20, 30 years, the tea leaves suggested that a bad Indian batting collapse had put the Test beyond reach. Nothing, there in the way the visitors batted, to indicate that on the third morning they would lose four wickets in a heap and end up with a lead far smaller than they had a right to expect.



There was nothing to indicate that an India coming off the back of three batting collapses would find a second wind and, in conditions where the pitch was beginning to take a hand with variable bounce and widening cracks, bat with fluid ease (Rahul), tremendous application (Pujara) and nervelessness (Rahane) and dogged determination (Saha/Ishant). Nothing to suggest, after that third day display, that India would this morning collapse from four for 237 to 274 all out, ending up just 187 ahead.



And there was certainly nothing to indicate that Australia, who in the series thus far had shown an ability to play patiently, would come out in manic mode, looking to finish things off in a hurry and along the way, losing their defensive processes. And there was absolutely nothing to suggest, even early in his spell, that Ashwin would pop into the telephone booth and pop out again in his more familiar Superman costume, ripping out five Australian wickets (of a total match haul of six) in the space of 5.2 overs.



It was compelling, it was manic, it was constantly unpredictable, it produced a result that did not seem possible at the end of the first innings of both sides. And it drew the crowds, giving them more than they had any right to expect.



Post mortems and analysis, in games where 16 wickets fall in a little more than two sessions, needs to wait for the adrenalin to die down, for the numbers to begin making sense. For now though, from an Indian point of view, the series is level, India can shrug off the low of Pune, and it is all nicely set up for the two Tests to follow.