Australia again missed their chances as India crept to within 165 runs of their first innings total on the fourth day of the final Sydney Test on Friday.
The tourists lost the wickets of skipper Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha in the morning session but kept the innings going on a flat, lifeless Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.
At lunch, India were 407 for seven in reply to Australia's 572 for seven declared with Ravichandran Ashwin unbeaten on 33 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar on three.
Another catch went down when new boy Joe Burns showed his inexperience fielding at bat-pad in a poor miss on Kumar who had yet to score in a two-handed chance off Nathan Lyon.
His dropped catch was the 16th missed opportunity, which has cost the Australians 627 runs in the series.
"Disappointing. We needed to take those chances and that's now two Test matches in a row," coach Darren Lehmann lamented after Thursday's play.
Kohli's hopes of building an even bigger innings evaporated in the fifth over of the day when he fell to Ryan Harris.
He clipped low to Chris Rogers at mid-wicket and threw back his head in anguish before slowly departing with 147 off 230 balls including 20 fours.
It was the new India skipper's fourth century of the series, equalling Australian counterpart Steve Smith's achievement.
It also took Kohli's series aggregate to a record 646 at 92.28, eclipsing Rahul Dravid's 619 for India against Australia in 2003/04.
Rogers had been off the field on Thursday suffering from back spasms and returned to the game to take the knee-high catch after treatment overnight.
Saha was dismissed in the second hour, getting a top edge to an attempted hook off Josh Hazlewood and caught by Steve Smith at second slip for 35.
Source: AFP