Rubbished as the weakest Australian cricket team ever to tour India, Steve Smith's men are eyeing the chance to launch a golden era with victory in Dharamsala.
Much has been made of the past in analysis of the epic four-Test series in India. The stats are stark: Australia have won a single Test series in India during the past 47 years, India have lost a single Test series at home in the past 12 years.
Smith, whose leadership has developed immensely since the horrors of Hobart last November, cares more about the future.
He wants to win the series 2-1 as a major building block for Australia to go on and dominate like they did at the turn of the 21st century.
Having gone blow for blow with the top-ranked Test side in their own challenging conditions, Smith says his teammates should feel confident about winning the series decider that starts at the foot of the Himalayas on Saturday, but also about facing any opposition on any pitch.
"Definitely. We all know that this is one of the toughest places to come to play as an Australian team," Smith said.
"It's obviously a relatively young side and this team could be together for a very long time.
"We've played some very good cricket. We probably did a couple of things wrong in Bangalore where we could have ... had a 2-nil lead.
"There's a confidence there that guys are able to play in these conditions ... we're in a good position, we've got to play well this week."
The visitors' bid to conquer cricket's mission impossible has been boosted by Virat Kohli's shoulder injury and a Dharamsala deck that almost resembles an Australian pitch.
"It's a bit different to what we were kind of expecting ... it's possible (paceman Jackson Bird will play in place of a spinner)," Smith said.
Combative India skipper Kohli remains restricted by the injury he suffered in Ranchi. Uncapped batsman Shreyas Iyer has joined their squad as cover.
Smith, the leading run-scorer of the series, is relaxed about the prospect of achieving something that was beyond Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and so many other of his predecessors.
Pundits in both nations predicted a lopsided series. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh even declared there had never been a weaker Australian team to tour the world's second most populous nation.
Smith fidgets at the crease and rarely banks a good night's sleep on tour. However, there has been a sense of composure and confidence about the 27-year-old throughout the tour.
No one factor has driven Australia's new mindset following nine successive Test losses in Asia, but a pre-tour camp in Dubai was extremely helpful and Smith has changed tact as captain.
He also pinpoints last year's painful 3-0 series loss in Sri Lanka as a formative hurdle.
"I learned a lot out of Sri Lanka ... about playing and leading in the subcontinent," Smith said.
"You can't attack non-stop. You have to have defensive fields at times and people are going to be critical of that.
"We were able to play out the draw (by batting time in the third Test in Ranchi), that's just ended pretty quickly for us on a few occasions (in the past) where we've just rolled over."
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