Ben Hilfenhaus claimed three late wickets on Day 4 to bring Australia back into the match after being bundled out for a paltry 192.
The Australia paceman saw off the dangerous Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina before Doug Bollinger accounted for Rahul Dravid to leave the hosts on 55 for four chasing a victory target of 216.
Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma claimed three wickets each while spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha got two apiece, as none of the Australia batsman, with the exception of first-inning centurion Shane Watson (56), showed any resistance.
India completely dominated the first two sessions and most part of the third on a day which saw the fall of 14 wickets, but frittered away the advantage in the final hour of the day.
Chasing 216 for victory, India started disastrously losing Gambhir (naught) in Hilfenhaus's first over of the innings.
The left-hander from Delhi was ruled out lbw even though replays suggested there had been a huge inside-edge, but the wicket of Dravid (13) was a bigger blow, since he was timing the ball well and appeared to be carrying on from his first-innings 77.
Bollinger claimed the prize wicket, when the 37-year-old right-hander lunged across to defend a delivery, which found the edge of his blade and travelled through to wicketkeeper Tim Paine.
Hilfenhaus got in on the action again with a double blow, first claiming Sehwag (17), who offered a simple catch at gully to Michael Hussey, and then Raina (duck), who was bounced out, to leave with an impressive figure of three for 22 in seven overs.
The hopes of India's fightback hinges on Sachin Tendulkar (10 not out), who carried the battle to the final morning along with nightwatchman Zaheer Khan, who has performed impressively with the ball claiming match figures of eight for 137 in 41.5 overs.
Earlier in the day, Australia saw a dramatic collapse in their second innings losing all 10 wickets within 105 runs and inside 40 overs.
The tourists began their innings with a slender 23-run advantage after piling up 428 all out, thanks mainly to Shane Watson's 126, wicketkeeper Tim Paine's 92 and Ricky Ponting's 71.
But in the second innings there were only two substantial partnerships.
The opening stand between Watson and Simon Katich was worth 87 runs and the second, while fourth-wicket pairing Katich and Hussey accrued 42 runs in just under 20 overs.
The openers started well, with Watson deciding to play aggressively while Katich preferred to grind on a pitch that offered low bounce and sharp turn.
Watson brought up his 50 off 51 balls to put Australia on 80 without loss - but chopped a Sharma delivery onto his stumps soon after. The Queenslander hit seven fours and a six off Ojha in his 56.
The right-hander's wicket triggered a collapse as Sharma, in the same over, claimed the prize scalp of Australia captain Ricky Ponting and snared Michael Clarke in his next over to reduce the tourists from a comfortable 86 for no loss to 96 for three.
Katich and Hussey held the innings together for some time and added 42 but Ojha got through the defence of obdurate opener who had scored 37 off 118 balls, triggering another collapse just before tea.
Harbhajan struck twice removing Michael Hussey (28 off 72 balls) and Marcus North (10), to leave tourists on 165 for six.
There was more misery for the Ponting's side as Zaheer came up with a superb spell of reverse swing claiming three wickets.
Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz and Hilfenhaus fell to the Mumbai Indians bowler, who also joined the 250-wicket club playing his 73rd match.
Earlier Ojha had claimed wicketkeeper Paine caught at short-leg by substitute Chiteshwar Pujara (nine).
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