India crumbled to 155 all out with just 12.5 overs left in the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and will need to win the final Test starting in Sydney on Friday to level the series and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Set an unlikely 340 to win, India looked well placed to salvage a draw when opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant batted through the second session in unflustered fashion to take their side to 112-3 at tea.
But Pant perished trying to slog part-time spinner Travis Head for six to spark a collapse as India’s last seven wickets fell for 34 runs from 20.3 overs.
Top-scorer Jaiswal was out for 84 to Australia captain and man-of-the match Pat Cummins, who took 3-28, and Nathan Lyon ended the contest when he trapped Mohammed Siraj lbw to spark wild scenes of jubilation among the home team.
Pace bowler Mitchell Starc said the home side never lost faith they could force victory in the last session.
“There were a few patches through the day with the wicket not doing a whole lot, but we managed to find a way,” Starc said.
“I think that’s just a feature of the group at the moment, is that calmness, to have that belief that we can get the job done.”
The departure of Pant for 30, caught on the boundary from a wild shot, ended an 88-run partnership and rejuvenated the Australia bowlers.
Ravindra Jadeja and first-innings centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy came and went quickly before Cummins ended Jaiswal’s gritty 208-ball knock in controversial fashion.
The 23-year-old was given not out to a caught-behind appeal from an attempted hook.
