India humbled by an innings and 37 runs

Perth: India's dismal run in the Test arena got worse in Perth on Sunday as Australia humbled the tourists by an innings and 37 runs to win the third Test inside three days and with that the series 3-0.

The end came swiftly after some fight was shown on the third morning by Rahul Dravid (47) and Virat Kohli, who was the last man out after scoring his Test best of 75. Ben Hilfenhaus (4 for 54) expedited India's end with three wickets in an over soon after lunch before Peter Siddle (3 for 43) took the last wicket of Kohli. Mitchell Starc (2 for 31) and Ryan Harris (1 for 34) were the other wicket-takers for Australia.

In the morning, Dravid and Kohli negotiated the first hour harmlessly before Harris broke India's vigil by disturbing Dravid's stumps. It earned Dravid an unwanted world record of 54 bowled dismissals in Test cricket, raising serious question marks over his coined name 'The Wall'. Six overs later, skipper MS Dhoni's bad patch was extended by Siddle, who had him caught by Ricky Ponting at second slip.

After his more illustrious team-mates failed to show some grit, Kohli showed how it was done by battling his way to a well-deserved half century that took India to 165 for 6 at lunch, still 43 runs in deficit after conceding a 208-run first innings lead. His leaves were as impressive as the eight boundaries he hit, indicating that the management didn't err in persisting with him after failures in Melbourne and Sydney.

But once the Australians broke Dravid and Kohli's 84-run stand, they wrapped it up in double quick time. It took the hosts just 3.2 overs after lunch to take the remaining four Indians wickets. Hilfenhaus' pace and swing was too much to handle for the tail as the quickie removed Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma in the space of five balls. And when Siddle got a nick from Kohli, the Australians confirmed their redemption with an innings victory.

The last match of the series will be played in Adelaide from January 24.