Australia's hopes of securing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India for the first time in 19 years are dashed, after collapsing to a second straight Test defeat.
India will retain the silverware for the fourth straight time after winning the second Test in Delhi by six wickets to take an unbeatable 2-0 advantage in the four-match series.
After losing in less than three days in the series opener in Nagpur, Australia suffered another collapse in its second innings to set India on path to a comfortable win.
On a rapidly deteriorating day-three pitch at Arun Jaitley Stadium, India had little trouble reaching the 115-run target as Cheteshwar Pujara (31 no) hit the winning runs in his 100th Test.
India remains unbeaten in Tests at its fortress in the nation's capital since 1987.
After flying to India full of confidence they could claim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy away for the first time since 2004, Australia's tour has imploded in less than six days of cricket.
Since an Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting-led side saluted in India 19 years ago, Australia has won just one — at Pune in 2017 — out of 16 Tests they have contested in the country.
Despite being the world's number-one ranked Test side, Australia is still not assured of reaching the World Test Championship final in June if it loses this series 4-0 and other results do not go its way.
Australia's hopes of securing the trophy went up in flames during a chaotic 90 minutes of batting on Sunday as Ravi Jadeja — with a career-best 7-42 — and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-59) ran riot.
After starting day three in Delhi with a 62-run lead with nine wickets in hand, Australia looked on track to build a match-winning advantage in seeking to level the series at 1-1.
But Jadeja and Ashwin quickly went about destroying the Australian line-up, unleashing carnage similar to that seen in the first Test in Nagpur.
Australia went from 1-61 overnight to all out for 113 in less than a session, setting India a target of just 115 to win.
After appearing to be managing the tricky conditions at 2-85, the tourists lost 8-28 in one of the worst collapses by an Australian Test team.
Australia lost 4-0 in 11 balls to crash from 3-95 to 7-95 in a devastating period before drinks on Sunday morning.
The tourists lost three wickets in as many balls — one to Ashwin and two to Jadeja — when Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and captain Pat Cummins were unable to contain India's spinning brilliance.
Handscomb got an unplayable delivery from Jadeja, but Cummins's shot was a wild, Twenty20-like swing to a ball that smashed into his stumps.
Given his first opportunity to open in Test cricket after David Warner was subbed out with concussion on Saturday, Travis Head (43) added just four to his overnight score before he was out to Ashwin on the last ball of the first over.
Marnus Labuschagne (35) and Steve Smith appeared steady at the crease for a short period, but once the latter fell, Australia crumbled on a rapidly deteriorating pitch.
AAP
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We'll wrap things up here
By Simon Smale
OK, that was hugely impressive from India.
India were behind for a long time in that Test, yet still managed to come through for the win.
Australia now has ten days between Test matches. That's a fair amount of time to have to think about what they've been subject to and how they've struggled on a pitch that is exactly what they're going to be served up in the next two Tests as well.
Thank you all for being with me over the course of this Test, we'll be back for the third Test on March 1, and I'll hope you join us then.
Thank you and good night.
Player of the match: Ravindra Jadeja
By Simon Smale
Second match in a row, Jadeja gets player of the match.
Career best figures and 10 wickets overall.
Very impressive.
"I was enjoying my bowling and this kind of wicket suits my bowling," he says.
"They were looking for runs ... their intent was very aggressive, so I think my plan was to keep bowling at the stumps and if they make a mistake I have a chance to take a wicket."
Is the sweep shot a good option against you, Jadejda is asked.
"Not on this kind of wicket," he says, laughing.
Rohit says Australia had to try different things, but the execution was wrong
By Simon Smale
"On a pitch like that, you've got to come out and try different things," he says.
"We knew that they were going to come out and play some shots.
"For us it was important not to panic, just keep hitting that areas because the pitch will help.
"We knew there was a lot in the pitch and we just had to hit that areas.
"It was all about waiting for that mistake to happen and that was what happened in the morning."
He says that most of the wickets fell in the morning session when there was still some moisture in the pitch and India knew that would be the time to press their advantage.
"That is something we focussed on," he says.
"These guys are the masters of these conditions.
"It was just about keeping it tight and keeping it patient."
Rohit: 'To come out and get nine wickets was a fantastic effort'
By Simon Smale
Here's the Indian skipper.
"It's a fantastic result for us," Rohit Sharma says.
"Looking at how things were yesterday, how we came back and finished our job, was a great effort, especially the bowlers."
"Even though we were one run deficit, I thought we were very much behind the game.
We had to bat second on that pitch, but the kind of effort we put in this morning to come out and get nine wickets was a fantastic effort."
Cummins: 'Those opportunities don't come along often in India'
By Simon Smale
Cummins was also asked what happened with the batting and whether there was a mandate to sweep.
"Everyone is in control of their own game," Cummins says.
"Some of it is planning, some of it's, you're going gunna get some balls that's got your name on it anyway.
"It wasn't easy, Ashwin and Jadejda were bowling well, but I think that will be the review, shot choice, didn't go about it the right way."
He says that both defeats were disappointing, but this one was particularly galling.
"Being probably ahead of the game for a lot of it, those opportunities don't come along often in India so you've gotta make the most of it.
"So yeah, this one hurts a little bit."
Pat Cummins: 'To let that [lead] slip is really disappointing '
By Simon Smale
Here's the Australian skipper, Pat Cummins.
"I thought 260 was a decent score on that first day wicket," Cummins says.
"I thought the boys bounced back really well [from Nagpur].
"I think they batted quite well, their innings probably matched our innings, just one of two partnerships.
"At the innings break it was pretty evenly matched."
He says that it was "disappointing" to surrender such a promising position earlier in the day.
"Disappointing when we were 2-80 or whatever we were, we were ahead of the game and to let that slip is really disappointing.
"That will be the review over the next few days is what we could have done differently."
"It's a similar story to Nagpur."
Time for the presentations
By Simon Smale
Lots of sponsors in position to present the vast array of trophies on offer.
The first two days were really good to be fair
By Simon Smale
Probably won't watch a test in India again - really stupid entertainment.
- Ian
Day two was genuinely phenomenal.
Pujara as batting coach
By Simon Smale
Can we hire Pujara as batting coach?
- Maaa
It wouldn't be the worst plan to hire an ex-Indian player as a consultant at least when touring India (I have no idea if that is or has been the case in the past or even for this Test to be honest).
England utilised Mr Cricket as a consultant during the T20 World Cup in Australia, and that seemed to work out OK...
A quirk of statistics
By Simon Smale
It was the only one that counted though, in the end.
It's a telling stat
By Simon Smale
India's 8th wicket partnership on Saturday: 114. Australia's 2nd innings total on Sunday: 113.
- Steve
Jadeja and Axar did play brilliantly.
Are Australian pitches that much harder for opposition batters than India's are?
By Simon Smale
Why are Indian pitches so bad for our batsmen? We have pitches in Australia that favour fast bowlers but I don't feel we disadvantage an opposition as much as the pitches in India. How do others feel?
- Ian
It is interesting, Ian.
India has only lost two Test matches at home in the last two years.
Australia, meanwhile, has only lost six Test matches in the same period, and four of those have been against India.
Nethertheless, that means Australia has only lost 12 per cent of matches played at home, with an unbeaten rate of 88.24 per cent of their home Tests.
So, actually, if you're only going on results, Australian conditions are almost as bad for opposition teams as Indian conditions are.
Sweep 'not an ideal shot to play' on this pitch: Pujara
By Simon Smale
Telling comments from Cheteshwar Pujara to the host broadcaster.
He was asked about how he plays on this pitch without really having a sweep shot in his armoury.
"If you look at this pitch, it's not an ideal shot to play because there is low bounce," he says.
No kidding.
If you've just joined us, six Aussies were out sweeping or reverse sweeping in that innings.
Pujara also said that the pitch was "not really" too tough to bat on, once you got in.
"It's the initial phase ... some balls spun, some balls went straighter," he says.
He also had some advice to the batters.
"Once you play about 30-40 balls it becomes a good pitch to bat on."
Problem for Australia's batters? In that second innings, only two players faced more then 22 balls - Travis Head (46) and Marnus Labuschagne (50).
You can say that again
By Simon Smale
This day hasn't turned out like I'd planned.
- Mike
An utter capitulation from Australia
By Simon Smale
Feels like a long time ago, but there was a lot of positivity about the state of this match this morning.
This time yesterday, Australia were eyeing up a sizable first innings lead.
India wins by six wickets, retains Border-Gavaskar Trophy
By Simon Smale
Cheteshwar Pujara hits the winning runs in his 100th Test!
It's a lovely shot to win it too, punched over long on for a boundary.
A thoroughly disappointing Test for Australia, but that's a bit of sporting romance for the Indian number three.
India has now retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth consecutive series, the first team to do so in the Trophy's history.
27th over - Murphy comes in to bowl the last
By Simon Smale
Pujara turns the ball to square leg for no run.
Pujara defends down the pitch.
Now Pujara runs into the off side and makes sure the ball hits his body so as not to get past him.
26th over - Travis Head comes on, for some reason
By Simon Smale
Does Lyon not want to risk having the winning runs scored off him or something?
Anyway, Travis Head comes in and earns a dot first ball, Pujara turning the ball towards leg gully.
Now he pushes past bat pad and gets a single to deep backward square leg.
SIX! That's how you sweep! A brilliantly timed shot over deep midwicket.
India needs just three runs
Now he punches down the ground for a single to long on.
Two to win
Pujara gets one of them to square leg.
Scores level
Down leg side, Bharat leaves it alone and that's over.
Cheteshwar Pujara, in his 100th Test, will have the chance to score the winning runs that retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
25th over - India need 18 to win, Kuhnemann comes in to bowl
By Simon Smale
Bharat defends into the off side.
FOUR! Nice shape from Kuhnemann but a lovely shot by Bharat, driving sumptuously to extra cover for a boundary, reading the spin, getting forward to the pitch. Nicely played.
Two slips wait, Bharat pushes into the off side in defence.
He leaves well outside off, the ball not turning in off the deck, so well read.
Just a push to point but he calls no and raises the arm instantly.
FOUR MORE! Another excellent expansive cover drive!
Now India needs just 10 to win.
