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After 10 days of recriminations, India and Australia brought the joy back to test cricket yesterday with a pulsating match in Perth.
With stumps approaching on day three, India broke Australia's run of 16 test victories with a 73-run victory. Australia were bowled out for 340 chasing 413.
Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark gave Anil Kumble and his men some cause for concern with a rollicking ninth-wicket partnership of 73. It should have ended much earlier but Kumble over-stepped by millimetres when bowling him.
In a match where no batsman reached three figures, Australia's resistance looked to have been broken irreparably when Anil Kumble lured top scorer Michael Clarke out of his ground on 81. Mahendra Singh Dhoni gleefully removed the bails, leaving Clarke well short and Australia's tail exposed.
The tourists dismissed Ricky Ponting before lunch, then Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee in the middle session to leave the Australians reeling at 243 for seven at tea.
When tea was taken, Australia were still 170 runs short of the 413 needed for an unlikely victory, with Clarke unbeaten on 73 and Johnson not out one.
Australia had gone into the match as overwhelming favourites to set a new world record of 17 consecutive test wins but were left facing the prospect of their first defeat since the 2005 Ashes series.
They had started the fourth day on 65-2 and clinging to the hope that they could get the required runs on a Waca pitch that was still holding up well, even if no batsman could feel completely set, after four days baking in the sun.
However, their chances suffered an early blow when Ponting fell for 45 in the morning session, caught by Rahul Dravid at first slip off Ishant Sharma.
The middle-order fell away after lunch. Hussey went for 46 when he was trapped lbw by Rudra Pratap Singh, then Symonds fell for 12 when New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden adjudged him lbw to Kumble, although television replays showed he had made contact with the bat.
Kumble threw the ball to India's opening batsman Virender Sehwag, who was recalled to the team for the first time in over a year, and he responded by claiming the next two wickets.
He bowled Gilchrist around his legs for 15 then dismissed Lee for a duck, caught at silly mid off by Vangipurappu Laxman, to expose Australia's tailenders and inch India closer to victory.
The last time the Australians lost any test was in the fourth Ashes match at Trent Bridge in August 2005.
The last time they lost a test at home was against India at the Adelaide Oval in December 2003.
