Australia were four tailend wickets from a whitewash of India, who required an improbable further 334 for a Test record total to win and to avoid a second straight 4-0 sweep on the road.
New Zealand captain Ross Taylor suffered a calf injury, on a severely truncated second day at Napier in which only 15.2 overs were possible, that is set to rule him out of the series with Zimbabwe.
Australia captain Michael Clarke decided against enforcing the follow-on at the Adelaide Oval after his Peter Siddle-inspired outfit overcame Virat Kohli’s maiden Test century to take total control.