The fourth Test in Ahmedabad was expected to be a dead rubber after India looked set to steamroll Australia following largely comfortable wins the opening two matches.
But the home team's ploy of preparing rank turners backfired spectacularly in Indore as the Aussies outplayed India in all three departments to pull off one of the great Test wins in the third of the four-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
Having now qualified for the World Test Championship final, Australia will harbour hopes of levelling the series in the final Test that begins at the Narendra Modi Stadium from Thursday.
Before the third Test started, India captain Rohit Sharma explored the possibility of requesting a hard surface for the final Test to replicate, as much as possible, the conditions expected in the WTC final at The Oval in June, if they won the Indore game.