Australia endured a trial by spin in India, but it was fired-up paceman Umesh Yadav who busted the Test series decider wide open.
Yadav, seething after Pat Cummins targeted India's tail with a short-pitched salvo on day three in Dharamsala, responded with his own burst of hostility.
Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar unleashed a bouncer barrage at the start of Australia's second innings, rattling the visitors in their new-ball spells.
Yadav removed both openers, while Kumar grabbed the huge wicket of Steve Smith amid a collapse of 3-21.
David Warner and Matt Renshaw both copped painful blows to the body before they were caught behind.
"The way their pacers were bowling bouncers, especially Pat Cummins, the plan in the second innings was to bowl as many bouncers as possible," Yadav told the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) website.
"We had to win the match and this being the last Test of the season, I felt that we had to give some effort.
"When I was batting, I received two, three bouncers. After going back (to the dressing room), I decided that I would show them I can bowl bouncers too.
"At the same time, I had to make sure that I kept control while being aggressive."
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke noted Yadav pushed Australia's batsmen on the back foot from the outset.
"I don't think any of the Australian batsmen expected the pace and aggression of Umesh Yadav," Clarke told India Today.
Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, sitting alongside Clarke, noted Yadav "took the wind out of Australia".
"They knew it would be just a matter of time before there was an edge. The fast bowlers broke the backbone of the Australian batting line-up," Ganguly said.
Yadav claimed 17 wickets at 23.41 in the series. It is the most wickets the right-armer, normally forced to play second fiddle to star spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, has ever claimed in a series.
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