After Australia's bowlers did a fine job of limiting India in the first innings, the batsmen failed to match their efforts, with the hosts crumbling to be all out for 191 in less than a day.
In just its second Test with the pink ball, India's attack did superbly well on day two of the first Test at the Adelaide Oval to help secure a 53-run first-innings lead.
Without a gritty, well-paced knock from captain Tim Paine (74 not out) under intense pressure, the deficit for Australia would have been much worse.
The problem with India's efficiency was it meant they were left with a very tricky 25 minute spell against the Aussie quicks, and Pat Cummins smashed the stumps of Prithvi Shaw to earn some consolation from the day.
India, at 1-9, takes a 62-run lead into day three with 9 wickets in hand, with Mayank Agarwal and nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah at the crease.
At the start of the day's play, Australia made light work of the Indian tail, ripping through the lower order for the addition of just 11 runs to the overnight total.
Ashwin (15) and Wriddhiman Saha (9) did not add to their overnight scores as Pat Cummins (3-48) and Mitchell Starc (4-53) made dismissed Umesh Yadav (7) and Mohammed Shami (0), with Bumrah stranded on 4 not out.
That left nearly a full day for the Australians to build their innings.
There were question marks hanging over Australia's opening pairing of the out-of-form Joe Burns and Matthew Wade, who had never opened the batting before.
They did a reasonable job of taking the shine off the pink ball, lasting 14 overs, but could only contribute eight runs apiece to Australia's score. Both were trapped in front by Bumrah, with Wade wasting a DRS appeal by sending his decision upstairs when it was plumb LBW.
That brought Australia's best pairing to the crease, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.
Labuschagne was comically dropped by Bumrah on the boundary when on 12 just before tea and by Prithvi Shaw when on 21 shortly after the long break.
Then, in the same Bumrah over, Smith was handed a lifeline on 1 when an outside edge fell just short of first and second slip.
Smith (1) could not make the most of his chance, edging Ravichandran Ashwin to Ajinkya Rahane at first slip in his first over after a 29-ball stay in the middle.
Travis Head (7) looked in good touch before offering up a soft dismissal, caught and bowled by an on-fire Ashwin, while debutant Green (11) will always remember his first Test innings due to the spectacular nature of the catch at mid-wicket by Virat Kohli to end it.
Labuschagne's resistance was ended after the dinner break on 47 after a period in which he saw less of the strike, LBW to Yadav (3-40), as captain Paine produced one of his finest knocks at international level while wickets fell around him.
Cummins only lasted three balls to fall to Yadav in the same over, before Starc offered a big-swinging cameo of 15 runs from 16 balls until he was run out.
Lyon offered 21 balls of support to Paine, who motored past 50, before the off-spinner's soft dismissal at the hands of Ashwin. Hazlewood (10) was the last man out, spooning a catch into the slips off Yadav.
See how the day's action unfolded in our live blog.
