It took KL Rahul an eternity to drag himself away from the batting crease on Sunday afternoon. During that period, he might have wondered what he had done to anger the cricketing Gods so much that, in the middle of a poor run in Test cricket, wretched fortune too had come calling at the most inopportune time.

India’s chase of 115 for victory was exactly one over old when the beleaguered opener whipped Nathan Lyon’s first ball of the innings firmly. The ball rebounded off Peter Handscomb at short-leg and lobbed up for wicketkeeper Alex Carey to complete the simplest of catches. It’s just the kind of dismissal a batsman in poor form attracts.