Australia's collapse leaves India 87 away from Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australia's batsmen froze in the spotlight of the opportunity to press for a series-sealing victory over India, leaving the hosts needing a mere 87 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on day four in Dharamsala. The surprise for the hosts and source of regret for the visitors was that wickets to pace, not spin, dictated the course of the day.

Starting their second innings 32 runs behind, Australia lost David Warner, Steven Smith and Matt Renshaw while still in deficit and were ultimately rounded up for a measly 137. Only Glenn Maxwell offered any prolonged resistance, the rest stuck in quicksand against Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Umesh and Bhuvneshwar in particular made a mighty impact, making the new ball kick, jump and jag in such a way that Warner and Renshaw were utterly spooked, while Smith's series ended with an attempt to assert himself that ended with a misjudged pull shot and scattered stumps. Ashwin and Jadeja were then left to separate Maxwell and Peter Handscomb before mopping up the rest.

Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha had earlier put together a priceless partnership to push India into the lead before Australia struck in the minutes before lunch. As had been the case in Ranchi, India's seventh-wicket stand was a thorn in Australian sides, lifting the hosts from an overnight deficit of 52 to an advantage of 18 before the visitors were able to find a wicket. Jadeja's innings maintained his up surge not only as the world's No. 1 ranked bowler, but also as a batting talent.

He had solid support from Saha, who was fortunate to still be at the crease given Matt Renshaw's drop off the bowling of Cummins on the second evening. It was ultimately Cummins who ended the stand by coaxing Jadeja to drag onto the stumps, before also claiming Saha with a spiteful bouncer that the wicketkeeper gloved into the outstretched right hand of Steven Smith at second slip.

These wickets feel either side of O'Keefe finding some turn in his first over of the session to defeat Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with Smith claiming the catch. He had refrained from using O'Keefe while Jadeja was at the crease, a measure of the respect Australia had for the left-hander's potential to score quickly.

Australia thought they had a wicket with the first ball of the morning, when Cummins angled across Jadeja and there was a noise as the ball passed the bat. The umpire Marais Erasmus raised his finger instantly, but Jadeja reviewed just as fast. Replays showed the bat had brushed his back pad rather than the ball, the decision reversed.

With the ball still new, it swung and bounced disconcertingly at times, requiring all of Jadeja's skill to keep down. Saha proved an effective partner, and the scoring rate rose dangerously for an Australian side conscious of not giving up too much of a lead. At the same time, Smith and his bowlers were straining for wickets, as evidenced by an ambitious referral for lbw against Saha by Josh Hazlewood off an inside edge, and also a preponderance of niggling chatter between bowlers and batsmen.

Not for the first time, Cummins took it upon himself to generate something, and did so by going around the wicket to Jadeja after he had hooked a pair of short balls in his previous over. Jadeja's middle stump was knocked back, and he was soon to be joined by Bhuvneshwar and then Saha.

Kuldeep Yadav added a pesky few runs with the last man Umesh before Nathan Lyon returned to the bowling crease. He had Kuldeep caught at deep backward square leg on the sweep with his first ball. That gave Lyon a deserved five-wicket haul, and left the touring batsmen to contemplate the best way to build a lead.

They would have expected a few difficult overs from the pacemen but not the fusillade fired down by Bhuvneshwar and Umesh that did for Warner, Smith and Renshaw. Warner was struck one stinging blow on the shoulder by a Bhuvneshwar short ball that climbed sharply, was dropped for a second time in the match by Karun Nair, and did not get far enough across his crease to avoid edging Umesh the following over.

Smith seemed intent on domination, sending his first ball to the boundary behind square leg then lining up Bhuvneshwar's short and full deliveries. But his attempt to carry on brought a miscalculation and an ugly drag onto the stumps - Smith finished the series with a laudable 499 runs but the sense of an unfinished last innings.

Renshaw's dropped catches and cheap first-innings dismissal had conveyed something of fatigue on his first overseas tour having played so maturely earlier in the series. Now he fiddled at an Umesh delivery he may have left at another time. Australia were three down and still a run in deficit.

For a time, Handscomb and Maxwell appeared capable of forging a major stand. Maxwell was the aggressor and Handscomb the accumulator, and the left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep was withdrawn by Ajinkya Rahane after being effectively neutralised. However in the final few minutes of the session, Ashwin found Handscomb's outside edge with an offbreak that jumped without turning, then Shaun Marsh - beset by a back injury - bunted lamely to short leg.

Maxwell loomed as the key to Australia's chances when the evening session began, and after Wade evaded an early lbw appeal and referral, Maxwell was given out to Ashwin when he tucked his bat behind his pad. The review showed umpire's call for both impact with the pad and projected path towards the stumps.

Cummins and Wade then tried to steady the innings, but became trapped into scorelessness in a way that meant the Australian lead did not appreciably grow relative to the time they spent at the crease. So when Cummins fell to Jadeja, the lead was still well short of 100, and it remained there through the swift dismissals of O'Keefe and Lyon.

Finally Wade showed more intent in Hazlewood's company, until the paceman was deceived twice by Ashwin. The first occasion seemingly to a catch at second slip, but replays showed M Vijay had grounded the ball and so the players returned to the middle for another two balls, this time to see the umpire Ian Gould's finger raised for an lbw.

Vijay and KL Rahul were left with six overs to the close. They negotiated them with a level of comfort that underlined not only how well Umesh and Bhuvneshwar had bowled, but also how Smith's Australians had squandered the sort of chance they had been fighting to have all series.