Rahul, Rahane finish the job in quick time

DHARAMSALA: Australia's series continued to be defined by missed opportunities as an imperious, exacting India wrested an eight-wicket win, and with it a 2-1 series victory, to cap off a glorious home season.
With the pitch and its attendant cracks amenable to some hostile pace and equally receptive to quality spin, sudden twists of fate had defined the first three days of the Test.

So what if it had all culminated in India finally seizing the initiative, and requiring only 87 to win coming into Day Four, with all ten wickets intact?
There was still some hope for the visitors, still some opportunity to put fear into Indian minds. Surely, an early wicket or two wouldn't hurt.

Sadly, after having been competitive all series and being the only opponent to pose a threat to the home team this season, it looked like Australia had given up even before they took the field. Opening with Hazlewood and Cummins, that steadfast pace pair which had put in such a brilliant effort in India's first innings, should have been de rigueur .

Instead, after Hazlewood had induced two big LBW shouts in the first over, with Murali Vijay being saved by the faintest of inside edges, Steve O'Keefe ambled in with his unremarkable variety of left-arm spin.

Off his second over, O'Keefe was carted for two boundaries as a sweep and a square drive from Rahul's bat helped India weed out any possibility of early accidents.

There were more `duh' moments to come from the Aussies. When Cummins was finally brought on, Vijay gloved the paceman's first delivery, which was short and going down leg, to the wicketkeeper Mathew Wade. Cummins stumbled in his follow through and Wade put in only a faint appeal.

India still had their share of heart-stopping moments, though, as Vijay and Pujara departed in the same over, Pujara being run out as he inexplicably stopped mid-stride after playing to the point region and taking off for a single.

After Maxwell's direct throw had reduced India to 462, though, came another Smith `brainfade'. With stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane fresh at the crease, and as it emerged later, with attack on his mind, Smith introduced offie Nathan Lyon with three men on the boundary line.