Jansen and Rabada are both capable with the bat but with the pressure turned up fully, every ball was an event, from the second one Rabada faced, that he hit up and over point for four, to the final one, steered delicately by Jansen through point to secure the winning runs.

Those strokes are also screenshots of the way the pair approached the chase: Rabada backed himself to play his strokes while Jansen was more conservative and happy to wait for scoring opportunities.

Between them, they offered only once chance, when Rabada, on 12, fished outside off and edged but the chance fell short of Mohammad Rizwan. That came post-lunch, the break South Africa went into needing 32 to win.

By the time Abbas found Rabada’s edge, they needed 28. Rabada went on to score five boundaries in his 31, the third highest score by a batter at No.10 or lower in a successful chase.

A normally nervous character, Jansen, who spoke about his game plan on the third evening, was solid in defence and then struck two of the sweetest fours of his career, first when he got on top of the bounce from Abbas and then to seal a famous win.

While Rabada and Jansen held their arms up in celebration on the field, South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma and coach Shukri Conrad embraced in the changeroom. The pair came together at the end of the last WTC cycle to lead South Africa through this one. Mission accomplished.

Bavuma would have also been a relieved man after he worked his way to 40 and then walked when he did not hit the ball. He was given out off what seemed to be the inside-edge and walked. Replays showed the ball had brushed a part of his clothing and, with all three reviews available, South Africa could have asked for a second opinion.

Instead, Bavuma, who had received treatment on his elbow shortly before that, left the middle order to finish the job.

This is the second time Bavuma has walked at SuperSport Park – in 2020 against Sri Lanka, he was on 71 when he thought he had under-edged Dasun Shanaka and left the field before the umpire had raised the finger. This time, Alex Wharf had given Bavuma out but he chose not to review to the surprise of the South African changeroom. His dismissal triggered the collapse that left the tail at the crease.

Kyle Verreynne could not get behind the line of a Naseem Shah delivery and chopped it onto his stumps. In the next over David Bedingham chased an Abbas ball and was caught behind, and Corbin Bosch did almost exactly the same thing to give Abbas his sixth wicket and South Africa had crumbled from a position that felt comfortable: 96 for 4 after teetering precariously on 27 for 3 overnight.

Bavuma got the first runs of the morning, and his first runs, off the fifth ball, off a Abbas half-volley that he clipped through square leg. Abbas adjusted to back of a length and in his next over, thought he had found Bavuma’s edge. Rizwan indicated the ball had brushed Bavuma’s thigh but Shah Masood reviewed anyway. Rizwan was proved right and Bavuma, on 5, could continue.

Aiden Markram looked slightly more in control but got a streaky boundary off the edge before Bavuma creamed Khurram Shahzad through mid-on to leave South Africa with 100 runs to get.

Off the next ball, Bavuma, on 13, was given out lbw to Shahzad but reviewed immediately. Replays showed an inside edge and Bavuma survived again.

South Africa scored just three runs off the next 27 balls before Bavuma released the pressure with a hook shot off Abbas that Naseem thought he could get under. Naseem got hands under the ball but the momentum carried him over the boundary rope and not only did Bavuma get away with the shot he has fallen to several times this season but he got six for it.

To add insult to injury, Markram smashed the second ball of Naseem’s next over over extra cover for four. Fourteen dot balls followed before a Markram single took South Africa to the first drinks break with no damage done and 35 runs scored in the first hour.

Three balls after the interval, Markram was bowled by an Abbas delivery that kept low as he tried to jam his bat down and keep it out. That ended a 43-run fourth-wicket stand between Bavuma and Markram and brought Bedingham, who has a top score of 35 this summer, to the crease.

He started with a wristy flick for four before Bavuma reeled off an exquisite cover drive but the eye-catching shots were followed by risky ones.

Bavuma could not resist another hook, despite not being able to extend his elbow fully, but the chance fell safely. He went on to advance on Shahzad, brought back to replace Naseem, and hit over the covers but could never get comfortable.

Two balls later, Shahzad thought he found his outside edge but Rizwan saw it was pad and Masood listened. Bavuma faced eight more balls before he required treatment on his right elbow – the left was injured before this season – but continued. In the next over, he drove expansively and loosely against Abbas and walked but his team-mates had enough in the tank to guarantee South Africa’s place at Lord’s next year and take a 1-0 series lead. South Africa will play one more Test in this cycle, against Pakistan, at Newlands next week.

Brief scores:
South Africa 301 in 73.4 overs (Aiden Markram 89, Corbin Bosch 81*;  Khurram Shahzad 3-75, Naseem Shah 3-92) and 150 for 8 in 39.3 overs  (Temba Bavuma 40, Aiden Markram 37, Kagiso Rabada 31*; Mohammad  Abbas 6-54) beat Pakistan 211 in 57.3 overs (Kamran Ghulam 54; Dane Paterson 5-61, Corbin Bosch 4-63) and  237 in 59.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 84, Babar Azam  50; Marco Jansen 6-52) by two wickets

[Cricinfo]

Whatever India’s final target, it will no doubt spark memories of events at the Gabba in 2021 particularly with the nature of how the lower order kept them in the contest on day three. As on that occasion, they will again have to defy history: no team has ever chased a higher fourth-innings total for a win at the MCG, with the highest being England’s 332 for 7 which they achieved in 1928. A crowd of 299,329 has watched the match across the first four days, the highest-ever attendance for a Boxing Day Test.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s maiden century narrowed Australia’s first-innings advantage to 105. India’s new-ball bowling, with Bumrah well supported by Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep, made life extremely tough for the top order and the home side progressed at barely two-and-a-half runs an over. But at 80 for 2 – a lead of 185 – more comfortable territory was looming for Australia, only for the picture to change dramatically.

Steven Smith’s wicket sparked a collapse of 4 for 11 in three overs in the first part of the afternoon session which included Bumrah’s 200th Test wicket as he removed Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey in an electric passage of play.

However, at 99 for 6 came a potentially defining moment when Labuschagne, on 46, was dropped in the gully by Yashasvi Jaiswal when he looked to glide the luckless Deep to third. Jaiswal, who had early shelled Usman Khawaja at leg gully, had a day to forget in the field as he also gave Cummins a life in the final over before tea when he missed a low chance at silly point.

Labuschagne and Cummins extended their partnership to 57, every run feeling like gold dust before Labuschagne was lbw to Siraj who had his best day of the series since Perth.

Any notion that Australia would add freely to their lead soon vanished in the morning as India bowled excellently with the new ball on a pitch offering more seam movement than previous days. This time Bumrah got the better of Sam Konstas when he seamed one through the gate and didn’t hold back in a celebration that appeared to mimic Konstas’ interactions with the crowd.

Bumrah moved the ball so much that it was sometimes impossible to hit, while both Akash and Siraj were challenging, although the former might have wanted to pitch the ball a touch fuller. The benefit of pitching up a fraction more was shown when Siraj seamed a delivery through Khawaja. At one stage during the morning session, the broadcast said that Australia’s batters had been beaten 21 times in 18 overs.

Briefly after lunch, it appeared Labuschagne and Smith, who had started the innings within 51 of 10,000 runs, were trying to increase the tempo but any thought of that was soon shut down.

Siraj opened the door when Smith chased a wide delivery, then Rohit Sharma sensed a moment and immediately brought back Bumrah who was breathtaking. With his second delivery, he had Head flicking to forward square leg and four deliveries later, he continued Marsh’s lean series with a delivery that climbed and brushed the glove. Marsh was left with 73 runs in seven innings (47 of which came in one knock) and he will likely be at the centre of much debate ahead of the Sydney Test regardless of the result here.

When Bumrah seamed one back sharply at Alex Carey, the game was threatening to be turned on its head barely 24 hours after India looked likely to concede a lead over 200. Then came Labuschagne’s reprieve and Australia breathed again.

Scoring was never free but Labuschagne constructed one of the most important innings of his career although at times could only smile when another delivery would whistle past his edge. Overs such as one from Deep that went for nine – with a boundary apiece to Labuschagne and Cummins – were like small momentum shifts.

When the pair survived Bumrah’s first spell after tea that felt like a good result for Australia, but Siraj produced a superb delivery to earn an lbw against Labuschagne that was upheld on umpire’s call.

Mitchell Starc fell to a misunderstanding with Cummins and a brilliant piece of work from Rishabh Pant who removed a glove to collect Reddy’s throw from the deep and produced a direct hit at the non-striker’s end. Cummins then edged Jadeja to slip having produced his highest runs tally in a Test.

The contributions by the lower order have made Australia favourites, although nothing feels certain.

Brief scores:
Australia 474 and 228 for 9 (Marnus Labuschagne 70, Nathan Lyon 41*; Jasprit  Bumrah 4-56, Mohamed Siraj 3-66) lead India 369 (Nitish Kumar Reddy 114, Yashasvi Jaiswal 82; Scott Boland 3-57, Pat Cummins 3-89) by 333 runs

[Cricinfo]