That said, what Kohli did with the shoulder bump is simply not cricket. Indians are not shy to retaliate if provoked, but here the provocation was simply not there. The one thing that players learn with experience is that it’s futile to try and get back at the crowds, who have come to have a good time, so booing players is never personal but just a way to entertain themselves. To react to that doesn’t do the player any good, and in fact does more harm.

Kohli must understand that whatever he does to react to the crowd actually puts more pressure on his teammates, who also then become targets of the spectators.

With his continued failures to avoid nibbling at the deliveries around the off-stump, he failed to make the contribution that could have boosted the total. The skipper, Rohit Sharma, was out of his depth and having taken the brave decision to step aside, because of his form, he has also raised big questions about his future in Test cricket.

Now that India has failed to qualify for the world Test championship final and the new cycle for the WTC starting with the tour to England in mid-June, it won’t be a surprise if the selectors take the bold decision to start the qualification process by looking for players who would be there for the next final in 2027.

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Australia, well led by Pat Cummins, were deserving winners. Cummins led from the front with both bat and ball. Whenever a breakthrough was needed, he would come up with a spell that would put the skids under the Indians and his batting, whenever Australia were short of runs, was frustrating for the Indians.

It’s been a real pleasure to be here to witness first-hand such a riveting series. This series showed why Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game.

Test cricket is alive and well.

Sunil Gavaskar played 125 Tests for India and scored 10,122 runs.