The man who handed over the Ashes to England for the first time in a generation stood on the threshold of another ignominious defeat yesterday. In Nagpur, the city where Australia wrested back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy four years ago, Ricky Ponting endured a miserable fourth day with Australia’s abysmal over-rate prompting bizarre tactics in a final session during which India went from a potential crisis to setting a target of 382.

By tea, Australia had bowled only 48.5 overs and after Mitchell Johnson resumed with a maiden, word was sent from the dressing-room that the over-rate was unacceptable.

It was hardly an unfamiliar situation, either. During the 320-run drubbing that India inflicted in the second Test in Mohali, Ponting was seen having words with Brett Lee, after the team’s premier fast bowler was ignored for a session. In his column for The Australian after the match, Ponting had written: “Over-rates do my head in.”

They clearly affected his thinking in Nagpur as well. Before the interval, Shane Watson and Brett Lee had finally got the ball to reverse-swing to serious effect and with Jason Krejza’s dream debut getting even better, India were in trouble at 166 for six, only 252 ahead. The minute the main men went off and the part-timers came on, though, the pressure lifted. Ponting got 12 overs out of Cameron White and the two Michaels, Clarke and Hussey, and by the time Watson returned to wrap up the innings swiftly, 90 minutes had elapsed. More importantly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh, a persistent thorn in Australia’s flesh, had added 108 at four an over to take the target beyond 360.

Up in the television commentary box, Allan Border, who led Australia in 93 Test matches and laid the foundations of a golden age, was close to losing his cool. “I’m glad Ricky can’t read my mind right now,” he said, “because he’s not going to like it.” When Border’s thoughts were mentioned to Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, at the end of the day’s play, there was the predictable but unconvincing defence of the captain’s tactics. “I don’t think for one second that Ricky hasn’t pressed for the win,” he said. “It’s easy to sit up in the commentary box and poke fire at the captain because of the decisions he’s making out there.”

Nielsen was at a loss to point out, though, just why the over-rate was so bad when the fast bowlers had managed only 38.4 overs in the day. Krejza, who ripped a magnificent off break through V. V. S. Laxman’s defences and then dismissed Sourav Ganguly first ball, contributed 31 overs for his four wickets, and his match haul of 12 was four more than Lee managed all series.

Australia’s woes were not just tactical. In the morning, Aleem Dar, the umpire, had words with Ponting after one of the fielders attempted to repair damage that Virender Sehwag’s powerful strokes had inflicted on the ball. Brad Haddin then conceded five penalty runs by flinging his glove to stop a ball from going too far past him. And the air of schoolboy cricket was compounded by four overthrows given away as Clarke was tying a shoelace at the end of an over by Krejza.

The loss of Australian cool allowed India to rebuild after a dismal second session in which they lost six wickets for 68 after Sehwag and Murali Vijay had added 116 with studied nonchalance. The game-changing events after tea left India poised to repeat the success of 2001, when Steve Waugh’s side were humbled.