Brisbane, Australia: Mitchell Johnson triggered a batting collapse with three early wickets and picked off the last man to dismiss India for 224 on Saturday, giving Australia a victory target of 128 in the second test.
Australia made a nervous start to the chase, reaching tea on day four at 25-2 after Ishant Sharma (2-12) had David Warner (6) and Shane Watson (0) caught behind.
The Australians needed 103 more runs with four sessions remaining to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. Chris Rogers was on 15 and skipper Steve Smith was unbeaten on two.
Warner needed treatment after he was hit on the left thumb in the second over and was out in the fifth.
Sharma's opening bowling spell in the seven overs before tea was a rare bright spot for India on day four after the tourists resumed at 71-1 but with opener Shikhar Dhawan staying in the pavilion after being injured in morning practice.
The Indians lost 4-11 in 20 balls as Johnson exploited some overhead cloud cover and extra bounce. Dhawan returned after the fall of five wickets and topped the scoring with a gritty 81 in India's second innings.
Johnson had Virat Kohli (1) out chopping onto his stumps to trigger the collapse, then had Ajinkya Rahane (10) caught at gully by Nathan Lyon and Rohit Sharma (0) caught behind within 11 balls. Josh Hazlewood then trapped skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (0) lbw as India slumped to 87-5.
Ravi Ashwin (19) helped India erase the 97-run first-innings deficit before he was contentiously given out, caught behind off Mitchell Starc to a ball that appeared to miss the edge. The video review system is not used in this series at India's behest.
Dhawan rejoined overnight partner Cheteshwar Pujara at 117-6 and they moved the total to 143 before Hazlewood struck again, having Pujara (43) caught out fending to gully.
It was a costly morning session for India, losing 6-86 and turning a match that had appeared to be evenly poised heading into the weekend.
Dhawan and Umesh Yadav (30) added 60 for the eighth wicket to at least give India a total to defend before Dhawan was trapped lbw attempting to sweep a Nathan Lyon delivery that pitched on line. Lyon dismissed Varun Aaron (3) and Johnson returned to have Yadav caught behind to finish off the innings.
India team management complained about the condition of the practice wickets at the Gabba, saying Dhawan and Kohli were hurt while batting in the nets before play.
Kohli hurt his left wrist in the nets but was able to go out to bat at the start of play. He faced only 11 balls before his dismissal triggered the collapse.
Dhawan batted for 23 overs late Friday and was not out on 26 overnight, but hurt his right wrist in a net session.
India team management said it had been asking for several days for fresh practice pitches to be prepared in the nets but it had not happened.
"Instead of that, they have asked (us) to practice on worn out wickets which (have) uneven bounce," the team said in a statement. "Because of that two of our batsmen got injured."
