Mitchell Johnson made a leap towards pace bowling maturity before Harbhajan Singh proved a sting in India's tail to claw back ground on Australia at stumps on day three of the first Test in Bangalore.
Australia's attack had needed to improve markedly on an ordinary start to their stint in the field on the second evening and it was Johnson who ruined local hopes of first innings parity by claiming 4-62 with a sustained effort of pace and reverse swing.
India reached the close at 8-313 in reply to Australia's 430 after Harbhajan (54) and Zaheer Khan (35no) combined entertainingly for an 80-run stand that reduced what could have been a dominant first innings lead.
They succeeded in affecting the focus of the tourists either side of a 28-minute rain delay, Zaheer exchanging heated words with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and Harbhajan playing up to the crowd while enjoying his role as Australia's tormentor.
In the end the tourists were grateful to allrounder Shane Watson (2-37), who bent his back to have Harbhajan edging behind just before the finish.
Another Queenslander in Johnson had torn through the best of the home side's batting early on, defeating Virender Sehwag (45), Sachin Tendulkar (13) and VVS Laxman (zero).
Tendulkar entered this series needing 77 runs to pass Brian Lara as the leading run scorer in Test cricket, but he could manage only reduce that to 64 before presenting Cameron White with a first Test catch.
Needing an early wicket, the Australians found one through Brett Lee (1-49).
Seventh ball of the day he angled one in from around the wicket at Gambhir, who was horrified to find the ball straighten off the seam to have him plumb lbw.
On a pitch that offered variable pace, bounce and a patchwork of cracks to those accurate enough to exploit them, Johnson was truly a handful, and his first session analysis was an outstanding 8.5-3-19-3.
He did not take long to trouble Sehwag, and two balls after he was beaten outside off stump, the impetuous opener lashed at a wider delivery and his low edge was neatly held by the solitary slip Matthew Hayden.
The biggest crowd of the match so far had turned out to will him on and Tendulkar began in a confident vein.
But neither Johnson nor the vagaries of the wicket allowed him to get comfortable, and the spectators were silenced when Tendulkar drove an off cutter to shortish cover a few balls after a similar shot had fallen centimetres short of the field.
More was to come as Johnson defeated a tentative Laxman when the batsman fiddled at a length ball angled across him.
After lunch, Shane Watson (1-28) chimed in to have Rahul Dravid (51) lbw to an inswinger in a line-ball decision by umpire Asad Rauf.
White (0-39) was respectable in his first Test spell, confusing Ganguly and Mahendra Dhoni (nine) before tea by bowling with remarkable straightness on a wicket offering plenty of spin.
His lack of deviation contributed indirectly to Dhoni's wicket, when the Indian 'keeper was bowled on the back foot by a delivery from Michael Clarke (1-22) that turned enough to beat the outside edge and crash into off stump.
Johnson's fourth came through a wicked late inswinger that pinned the doughty Sourav Ganguly lbw for 47.