A day before the fourth Test, Ishant Sharma had talked about how it was only appropriate that Australia struggle in these conditions, since India had struggled Down Under.
That's all right in theory, but with top teams looking increasingly out of sync away from home, it does take away from the element of surprise which makes cricket-watching special.
Australia's batting collapse at the Kotla on Friday didn't have any dramatic impact on the feeble crowd: there simply was an air of inevitability. After all, they'd seen it happen thrice before in this series.
Interestingly, both teams claimed the advantage at the end of the day's play. The Aussies, who have naturally set modest targets, would be happy with another 50 runs, said Steven Smith. "It'll get tougher and tougher to bat. Given the situation, if we could grind another 50 runs that would be a good enough first-innings total."
Smith, however, seemed at a loss for words when asked to explain why the Aussies buckled yet again.
"All the guys have worked very hard, had their game plans. In these conditions, your plans do not work," he shrugged. He was more forthcoming, though, when talking about the pitch. "It's not the Day One wicket I'm used to playing on. It has broken up pretty early."
After being faced with turning tracks on this tour, Australia, naturally, may have no qualms doling out the chin music whenever India tour next, knowing the young Indian batting line-up isn't quite up to the mark in bouncy conditions. Yet for two consecutive India-Australia series, such tit-for-tat strategy has accounted for the visiting team losing all its spunk midway through, making for poor viewing.
Standardized pitches are not possible in this game, but with home teams so reliant on the surface to defend their citadel, is it hampering the potential to come good abroad? Their spinners may have come good in this series, but will that suffice when India tour South Africa later this year?
Oz tail wags to India's dismay
Top-scorer Peter Siddle's gritty rearguard and Pattinson's stonewalling once again raised the bogey of India's bowlers failing to dislodge the opposition tail.
Australia's eighth-wicket partnership, for example, averages 36.42 in this series, with a highest of 97 added by Smith and Starc in Mohali. The ninth wicket averages 24.33, with a highest stand of 51.
Nathan Lyon and Moises Henriques added 66 for the last wicket in Chennai. India's bowlers have, at times, seemed to lack ideas once the top six departs and the tail starts showing desperate application.
India's most effective spinner in the series, R Ashwin, however, disagreed. "There are no tailenders anymore. They (the tail) batted pretty well, which is why we could not wrap it up."
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