Mitchell Johnson turned the second Test on its head in Brisbane on Friday, hammering 88 off 93 balls as India relinquished control.
Australia started day three poorly and were 6-247 when the tourists verbalised their confidence - Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were among a handful of chirpy players welcoming Johnson to the crease.
But the plan to sledge and bounce Johnson backfired horribly.
Australia more than doubled their score in the next 48 overs at the Gabba, establishing a first-innings lead of 97 runs before India reached 1-71 at stumps.
Steve Smith completed a century in his first match as captain, sharing a 148-run stand with Johnson - the highest seventh-wicket Test partnership at the venue.
"They tried to be quite aggressive with him (Johnson) - bowling short and trying to get stuck into him," Smith said.
"That played into his favour.
"He took them on and they didn't really have an answer for him.
"Our whole tail batted beautifully, to get us up over 500 was remarkable."
India wilted in the field as Australia left it late to amass a total of 505.
The hosts trailed by 10 runs when Smith and Johnson were dismissed by Ishant Sharma in the 88th over.
The tail continued to wag in aggressive fashion.
Mitchell Starc (52), Nathan Lyon (23) and Josh Hazlewood (32no) lashed India's attack with reckless abandon, regularly finding the rope.
Smith could feel the frustration building.
"When your tail bats like that it's always a nightmare for the opposition," he said.
"The heat and humidity really gets to you out in the middle."
First-innings centurion Murali Vijay then played on when he attempted to shoulder arms to Starc.
Smith felt the game was still in the balance.
"The wicket's still playing good. There hasn't been many tricks or anything yet," he said.
India started day three on top, with Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav quickly asserting their dominance.
The runs dried up: Mitch Marsh and Brad Haddin were out in the first hour.
The tourists then made their first error.
"They've fired up the wrong bloke here. Don't do it to Mitchell Johnson," Shane Warne predicted while calling the game for the Nine Network.
Not for the first time, Warne proved prophetic.
Johnson, who like Starc failed to take a wicket in the first dig, crashed a belligerent half-century off 37 deliveries.
Ishant Sharma, called into the attack after Haddin's dismissal, copped the initial treatment.
Sharma's two overs cost 25 runs and his spell ended then and there.
Johnson smacked three consecutive boundaries off Aaron, prompting captain MS Dhoni to run up from behind the stumps and counsel the express paceman.
Dhoni regularly tweaked his fields, but it was to no avail until Johnson was caught behind in the second session.
"There were too many bouncers and we were leaking runs," Yadav said.
"The wicket is good for batting now, so we will take a good lead and let's see."
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