Captain Virat Kohli's team entered the final day with hopes of a 3-1 series victory and also its first win at the SCG since 1978. But rain meant there was no play and umpires called it off early, giving India a 2-1 series win.
Leading the series 2-1 after the 137-run thrashing of Tim Paine's depleted Australia in Melbourne on Sunday, Virat Kohli's team are in the box seat to shrug off the nation's history of underachievement Down Under.
The disgraced Australian ex-captain has kept a low media profile since the scandal in South Africa. However, he's been playing Twenty20 tournaments in Canada and the Caribbean, and padding up for his Sydney club side Sutherland.
India, chasing 287 runs for victory, were dismissed for 140 in the second test match at Perth.
The visitors still need 175 to win with just five wickets in hand as Australia seek to level the four-Test series and claim their first Test win since beating South Africa at St George's Park in March.
The result ranks as Australia's second-heaviest defeat by runs, their heaviest in 90 years, and the heaviest for any team in test cricket since 1934. And that was after a ball-tampering scandal.
The usually pugnacious batsman apologised to fans, team-mates, his family and the Australian public for a ball-tampering scandal that has rocked the cricket world.
Australia now trails 2-1 in the series with one test to go and its proud record of having never lost a series in South Africa since 1970 is seriously under threat.
Tim Paine was made captain for the rest of the third Test - which has reached the fourth day - at Newlands after regular captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were stood down following the ball tampering revelations.
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