It took Johnson a while to bowl another bouncer and by then, the Indians had worked their way into the match.

“There's a bit of chat out there.”

The moment you heard those words – and you would hear them all the time in Australia – you knew you were headed for trouble. The Aussies play an abrasive form of cricket and it was on full display in the Ashes series in 2013.

It started in Brisbane – George Bailey and James Anderson were exchanging ‘pleasantries’ in the middle. Then, skipper Michael Clarke stepped up and instead of trying to calm things down, he tells the batsman to “get ready for a broken f**king arm.”

Few understood the true terror of those words especially when Mitchell Johnson was waiting in the wings to back up his captain’s claim. The left-armer ran in and sent one whistling past Anderson, who somehow weaved and bobbed and survived.

But it didn’t look he wanted to hang around in the middle for very long. Johnson ended up with 9-103 and Australia cruised to an easy 381-run win. You ask any batsman and he will tell you, ‘there are times when you feel that the bowler is really out to get you.’

And in that series – Johnson was clearly out to ‘get you.’ He followed up Brisbane with another astonishing performance in Adelaide.

Australia – batting first scored 570. Then Johnson ran through the England batting line-up, claimed 7-40 and bowled the visitors out for just 172. England never recovered and lost the second Test too.

But for much of India’s first innings in the first Test at Adelaide, that fearsome Johnson went missing. He was running in fast and bowling quick but there was no venom. There was no chatter. There was no intent. It felt more like he was – in a very cut-off manner – just doing his job.

The one time he looked like he was slowly getting back in the groove – was in a short session, just before lunch. He set up Murali Vijay beautifully – short, short, full, full, and one that left the batsman to get the wicket.

The adrenalin got to him a bit at this point. He morphed into the Johnson of old.

Virat Kohli walked in, took his guard and settled into his stance. The wicket had been very good for batting and the Indian skipper hadn't seen Johnson bowl a ball out of anger all morning. He watched Johnson at the start of his run-up and got ready.

Then, before he knew it, Johnson had dropped one short. It took Kohli by surprise. He ducked into it – knowing fully well that the ball would hit the helmet. It did and for a moment, it seemed like everyone at the ground stopped breathing.

Johnson and the other Australian cricketers rushed in to ask Kohli if he was okay. The fast bowler, in particular, seemed even more shaken up than the batsman. He cast a wary look towards Kohli in the few seconds after the bouncer. He genuinely seemed worried.

Clarke walked over to Johnson – had a few words, patted him on the back. This was emotional, stirring stuff. In the past, the bowler would have walked back to his mark, the slips would have chirped in their two bits and the crowd would have bayed for blood.

Today, there was none of that.

It must have been difficult for the Aussie bowlers not be fully aggressive; it must have affected the nerves - especially after hitting the batsmen.

On the eve of the first Test, Johnson had said: “We’ve got to play the way that we've been playing and that's been aggressive. That's the way I've always played the game and I know how the boys will be, going out there and playing the best cricket they can. If that's bowling the short ball like we have been, then that's how we'll do it.”

But now, it’s pretty clear… that was all talk; it took Johnson a while to bowl another bouncer and by then, the Indians had worked their way into the match. Johnson, as Wasim Akram explained later, isn’t a line and length bowler. He needs to be aggressive.

“Rather he is someone who bowls short; who bowls fast and then follows that up with deadly yorkers. That is what has worked for him in all conditions around the world. But take that out of him and he isn’t as effective.”

Late in the day, Johnson finally claimed Kohli’s wicket and once again it was the bouncer that did the trick. He ended the day with figures of 18-5-90-2 and India’s batsmen will feel that they got off easy.

But as Akram warned: “If it was me, I would have probably got back to business by the second innings. It is something I would tell myself, ‘I have to do, we have to do.’.”

And if that truly does happen, then India need to tell themselves that this the game is far from over. The visitors still trail by 148 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings and they can’t rest easy. You never know when Johnson will shrug it all off and get back to his dangerous best.