Praise was reserved for the Indian bowlers' extensively penetrative bowling and their ebullient comeback after a tolling day which saw them becoming increasingly despondent and lacklustre. Zaheer Khan bowled half of the sixteen overs possible on that day and his figures were: 8–0–42–3. These figures if expensive, belied the fact that Khan bowled according to the plans the Indians had set to different Australian batsmen. Zaheer hit an unplayable line and length mark right from his very first over and did not let any batsman settle. Agarkar kept Martyn quiet with some deliveries that the batsman played and missed. Greg Chappell and Sunil Gavaskar, two players who had played in the 1981 Melbourne test match between the two countries, when India defeated the Australians by 59 runs after setting them a target of 143, reckoned that the Indian bowlers' performances were quite close to the bowling heroics put up by the Indian team in that match. Overall, Zaheer's 5/95 was his third successive five-wicket haul in tests.