Australia ‘surprised’ by Virat and Rohit’s follow-up celebrations, Lyon says they didn’t want to hit | Cricket news

India’s dressing room erupted in joy after Akash Deep scored the boundary that helped the visitors avoid the follow-on late on day four of the Brisbane Test at the Gabba, which stunned the Australian team, off-spinner Nathan Lyon said.
No. 11 Akash Deep joined Jasprit Bumrah after India lost their ninth wicket with a score of 213. The duo then stitched an unbeaten 39-run partnership before stumps on Tuesday to take India past 246 – the follow-on target.
The camera shifted focus to the Indian dressing room in between, showing an animated Virat Kohli, captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir high-fiving as they burst into laughter.

Akash Deep then hit Pat Cummins for a six to show his long-stemmed skills, which brought Kohli to the edge of the glass window in the dressing room to see how far the shot went into the stands.
The duo came back the next day to add eight more runs before Akash was removed by Travis Head’s part-time spin for 31 and India bowled out for 260 runs, trailing Australia by 185 runs.
On Wednesday, speaking to Fox Cricket during a rain delay, Lyon said India’s top batsmen may not have wanted to come out to face the music late on day four, which is why they celebrated like that.

Lyon said the Australian team talked about it and were surprised.
“After the game we talked about it and were surprised by some of their actions,” said the veteran off-spinner. “It looked to me like their top order didn’t want to bat last night (Tuesday) if we were able to get it and enforce the follow-on.”
It meant Australia had to bat again after India were bowled out early on Day 5. The hosts went after Indian bowlers but lost 7 wickets for 89 runs and made a defiant statement at the time, leaving India with a target of 275 in a minimum of 56 overs left in the day.
But after India reached 8 without loss, rain came again to halt proceedings and the match eventually ended in a draw to keep the five-Test series level at 1-1.
“…I think we can be extremely proud of the way we’ve done it. We’ve really fought this battle to get into the position that we’re in right now,” Lyon said.