Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh continued his dominance over Australia on Friday, routing them for 93 on a crumbling pitch to bowl India to a dramatic 13-run win in less than three days of the fourth and final Test. The 24-year-old, who has taken 53 wickets against Australia in his last six Tests at home, finished with five for 29.
The world champions, however, still lifted the Border-Gavaskar trophy by winning the series 2-1, their first triumph in India since 1969.
Left-arm spinner Kartik added three scalps on a minefield of a track for the visiting batsmen, who were unable to cope with the uneven bounce and sharp turn.
Only Matthew Hayden put up any real resistance, scoring 24 with four boundaries but the writing was on the wall for Australia after his dismissal made it 48 for five.
Jason Gillespie (nine not out) held on for 72 minutes but Harbhajan got the last two batsmen as Australia folded in 30.5 overs.
Occasional left-arm spinner Michael Clarke had earlier picked up extraordinary career-best figures of six for nine, as India were dismissed for 205 in their second innings after fighting half-centuries by Vangipurappu Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar.
Laxman (69) and Tendulkar (55), both struggling for form, shared in a 91-run fourth wicket stand before Clarke dented local hopes by taking all his wickets in 29 balls, including Rahul Dravid (27) and Mohammad Kaif (25).
He finished with astonishing figures of 6.2-0-9-6 on a bustling day in which 20 wickets fell.
DEEP TROUBLE: India looked in deep trouble during the morning when Glenn McGrath removed openers Gautam Gambhir (1) and Virender Sehwag (5) early with his nagging off-stump line.
But Tendulkar and Laxman, promoted to number three, launched India's counter-attack by quickly punishing McGrath and Gillespie for three fours each.
Laxman, given one last chance by the selectors after a string of failures, struck 10 fours in all to redeem himself with his 20th Test half-century.
Tendulkar was particularly severe on debutant off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, hitting him for two fours and a six over long on into the stand named after him.
But it was Hauritz who finally got Tendulkar, caught by Clarke as the batsman mis-timed a slog-sweep.
Dravid and Kaif kept runs coming in ones and twos before Clarke induced Dravid to glove a ball to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, getting Karthik caught at bat-pad, trapping Kaif lbw and then running through the tail.
Chasing 150 on the wicket would always have been tough, but Australia found out that even 107 was a tall order as Zaheer Khan struck in the first over with Justin Langer caught behind for nought.
Kartik sent back Ponting (12) and bowled the in-form Damien Martyn (0) soon after to give India a scent of an unlikely win before Harbhajan dismissed Katich for one and bowled Hayden around his legs.
The spinners piled on the pressure and it was only a matter of time once Clarke (7) and Gilchrist (5) fell cheaply.
SCOREBOARD:
INDIA (2nd innings - overnight 5-0):
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G.Gambhir c Clarke b McGrath 1
V.Sehwag lbw b McGrath 5
V.Laxman c & b Hauritz 69
S.Tendulkar c Clarke b Hauritz 55
R.Dravid c Gilchrist b Clarke 27
M.Kaif lbw b Clarke 25
D.Karthik c Ponting b Clarke 4
A.Kumble not out 13
Harbhajan Singh c Hayden b Clarke 0
M.Kartik b Clarke 2
Z.Khan lbw b Clarke 0
EXTRAS: (B-4) 4
TOTAL: (all out, 68.2 overs) 205
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FALL OF WICKETS: 1-5, 2-14, 3-105, 4-153, 5-182, 6-188, 7-195, 8-195, 9-199.
BOWLING: Gillespie 15-1-47-0, Hauritz 22-4-87-2, McGrath 2-6-29-2, Kasprowicz 13-5-29-0, Clarke 6.2-0-9-6.
AUSTRALIA (2nd innings):
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J.Langer c Karthik b Khan 0
M.Hayden b Harbhajan Singh 24
R.Ponting c Laxman b Kartik 12
D.Martyn lbw b Kartik 0
S.Katich c Dravid b Harbhajan Singh 1
M.Clarke b Kartik 7
A.Gilchrist c Tendulkar b Harbhajan Singh 5
J.Gillespie not out 9
N.Hauriz lbw b Kumble 15
M.Kasprowicz c Dravid b Harbhajan Singh 7
G.McGrath c Laxman b Harbhajan Singh 0
EXTRAS: (B-8, LB-5) 13
TOTAL (all out, 30.5 overs) 93
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FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-24, 3-24, 4-33, 5-48, 6-48, 7-58, 8-78, 9-93.
BOWLING: Khan 2-0-14-1, Harbhajan 10.5-3-29-5, Kartik 12-3-32-3, Kumble 6-3-5-1.
RESULT: India won by 13 runs.
FIRST TEST: Bangalore - Australia won by 217 runs.
SECOND TEST: Madras - match drawn.
THIRD TEST: Nagpur - Australia won by 342 runs.
Australia win series 2-1.
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