In the space of a delivery, Aaron Finch’s finger went from passing the test to failing the test.

A day earlier, the newly-minted opener had retired hurt on the stroke of tea after his hand was smashed mid-pull shot by a vicious bouncer from Mohammed Shami.

Images of his right index finger looked concerning. Purple, swollen and split – the tell-tale signs of a broken bone.

When Finch was carted out of Optus Stadium and off to hospital for scans, pundits scrolled through the Sheffield Shield run-scorers list to find his replacement. Joe Burns? Matthew Renshaw? Mitchell Marsh?

Just a couple of hours later, the Victorian was cleared of serious damage and Australia’s cricketing community breathed a sigh of relief.

Shortly after lunch on day four, he found himself in the centre, sizing up the bowler who caused his initial demise.

On cue, the diminutive Shami charged in from a distance, braced his front leg and hurtled a bouncer towards Finch’s right glove.

Seconds later, Australia’s courageous opener was walking back to the pavilion after parrying the delivery through to keeper Rishabh Pant.

His return lasted one ball. His knock of 25 came from 31 rocks. His innings was alive for around 21 hours.

Some sort of episode for the explosive Aussie.