Sachin Tendulkar was out two runs shy of his 49th Test century Sunday before India was dismissed for 405, giving Australia a 23-run first-innings lead in the first cricket Test.
Left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson took 5-64 and India lost six wickets for 51 runs in a dramatic afternoon collapse on day three.
"I am happy with the way things panned out," Johnson said. "In the last hour, things came together for us ...we just stuck to our plans and remained positive."
VVS Laxman, who had to bat at No 10 due to a sore back, lasted only three deliveries before he offered a tame catch to Michael Clarke which wrapped up the India innings.
Tendulkar's dismissal triggered the slide when spinner Marcus North had the wicket of star batsman, who played across the line and was trapped lbw.
"Australia bowled well in the last session and put us on the backfoot," said Rahul Dravid, who scored 77 and shared a 79-run stand with Tendulkar for the fourth wicket. Tendulkar and Suresh Raina (86), added 124 for the fifth wicket before things went haywire for India.
"Sachin and Raina were doing well for us – when their partnership was broken, it triggered the collapse," Dravid said. "The match is not in any team's favour yet.
"We need to bowl well tomorrow morning and put pressure on them. The first session will be crucial and decisive."
Dravid said India missed Laxman's steadying influence in the middle order. Tendulkar, the game's leading Test century scorer with 48, hit 13 crisp boundaries and faced 251 deliveries in a flawless three-hour innings.
Raina was lucky in the last session when he had two reprieves. Wicketkeeper Tim Paine missed an easy stumping when the left-hander was on 48 and Johnson misjudged a catch at mid-off when the batsman was on 59.
Johnson made amends to his earlier lapse in the field when he had Raina adjudged lbw. The left-hander his 14 boundaries in his 128-ball knock.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also one of Johnson's wickets when he was well caught by Shane Watson for 14 as the Indian tailenders fell quickly.
Johnson said Australia needed to bat out the whole day Monday and hoped the wicket deteriorated "completely when we come to bowl."
"It's going to be difficult to bat on this wicket but we have some quality batsmen in our side and hopefully, they won't let the Indian spinners settle down."
Earlier, after resuming at the overnight 110 for two, India lost only two batsmen in the pre-tea sessions with Doug Bollinger taking both wickets. Bollinger had night watchman Ishant Sharma for 18 in the morning session and then had Dravid caught behind soon after the lunch break.
* AP
