An ugly yet priceless century by Australian vice captain Michael Clarke took the tourists to 7-539 by tea on day four of the third Test, within sight of India's intimidating first innings 7(dec)-613 at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
Clarke (101no) was dropped three times on Saturday before notching his eighth Test century by cutting Virender Sehwag for two on the last ball before tea, an innings that more than made up in persistence and importance what it lacked in attractiveness.
Shane Watson (36), Brad Haddin (17) and Cameron White (44) batted soundly around Clarke to help Australia into a position from which they should not lose the match, meaning the series will still be alive when they journey to Nagpur for the final contest.
India's best bowler was again part-time spinner Sehwag (5-104), who found tremendous variation in turn to cause confusion in the minds of all batsmen, and thoroughly deserved his first five wicket haul.
Home skipper Anil Kumble (1-94) returned to the field Saturday after last night receiving stitches for a deep cut in his left hand, and was rewarded with his first wicket of the series.
Watson and Clarke started off on a proactive note to quickly draw close to the 414 needed to avoid batting again, Watson pulling Zaheer Khan over square leg in the day's opening over.
Ishant Sharma gave Clarke his first life before the batsman had added to his overnight 21, allowing a lofted drive to burst through his fingers at mid off.
Many of the pair's runs arrived through fortunate edges through third man, eventually forcing Kumble to post a fielder there, but there were also a few strokes of authority.
Sehwag's introduction brought an immediate clamp to the scoring rate, as he again puzzled the batsmen by turning some balls viciously and others not at all.
It was one of the former deliveries that did for Watson, the batsman shuffling across on the back foot and waiting for the turn as he has done successfully for much of the series, only to be beaten when the ball spun almost square to fizz behind his pads and flick leg stump.
Next man Haddin was tied in knots by Sehwag and Kumble, often made to look a batting novice rather than the accomplished - and spin educated - player that he is in Australia.
He toughed it out, but was ultimately made to look foolish when he advanced to drive Kumble and was comfortably stumped.
White's tour has been a rough one, given a fiendishly difficult spin bowling commission and also failing to contribute the runs he expected.
But he made it through the challenging first few balls, striking a boundary right on lunch to break his duck, and gradually found his feet in the afternoon as a partnership developed.
Clarke's luck, as if borrowed from his poker-playing friend Shane Warne, held when VVS Laxman then Amit Mishra dropped simple chances in successive Sehwag overs.
By mid-session White was comfortable enough to crash Kumble down the ground for six, and he was unfortunate to drag Sehwag onto his
stumps 10 minutes before the break.
