Jasprit Bumrah stormed the Boxing Day Test with one of the best spells of bowling ever seen in Australia, but a gutsy 10th-wicket partnership will stretch into an epic final day.

Australia lost 4-11 as Bumrah rattled through their middle-order in a pulsating hour during Sunday’s middle session, but clawed their way to a lead of 333 at stumps.

The final stand between Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon — already worth 55 runs — tormented India for more than an hour and is the culmination of Australia’s latest post-Bumrah rescue mission.

Bumrah returned to bowl the final over of the day and thought he had Lyon caught at third slip before he was called for a no-ball.

Lyon is on 41, six away from his career high-score, after carving Bumrah away for two fours in the final balls of the day and Boland is on 10 at the close.

Pat Cummins made 41 in the fightback with Marnus Labuschagne, who made 70.

Bumrah took the wickets of Travis Head, Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey in one unplayable spell after Mohammad Siraj had dismissed Steve Smith for 13 to snap his promising partnership with Labuschagne.

Cummins was out guiding a Ravindra Jadeja off-spinner to Rohit Sharma at slip and he was also involved in a mix-up that had Mitchell Starc run-out for five.

But they did not take another wicket for the rest of the day, leaving their pace bowling star visibly distraught at stumps.

Labuschagne revealed after player that Australia’s ideal scenario was to declare and bowl to India on Sunday night, but steady wickets meant they didn’t end the day with enough runs to have a crack.

“We obviously had the perfect outcome for us and that probably looked like having a bowl tonight and putting them under pressure, but the way the wicket played and the way India bowled and came out and put us under pressure in that first 40 to 50 overs, that wasn’t an option for us,” he said.

“It became ‘let’s get as many runs as we can’ and that’s obviously creeping in to a nice total now, but there was a time there where it could have been 250, 270, maybe even less there for a bit.

“We navigated that really well and the lower order deserve a lot of credit for how they managed that last part.”

Labuschagne, who was at the crease for longer on day four than any other batter, said the sideways movement hadn’t changed, but balls were staying lower as the wicket wore.

“As the game has gone on the bounce has got less and more inconsistent, so we are getting more balls hitting the stumps, more balls skidding through and we are getting that coming through on the data,” he said.

“That is probably the major difference, the seam movement has probably been the same, but the bounce has been lower, which makes for pretty tricky batting there.”

Bumrah turned the whole series around in his midday blitz.

He found life in the MCG wicket and was spellbinding in a brutal display that put India ahead of the match for the first time.

Australia slumped to 6-94 after losing 4-11 in the middle session.

Labuschagne had been building a strong partnership with Smith before the former captain threw his hands at a ball wide outside off from Mohammad Siraj and was caught behind. It means Smith still needs 38 runs in Sydney to reach 10,000 in Test cricket.

Head, who scored a duck in the first innings, flicked a Bumrah delivery off his pads and straight to Nitish Kumar Reddy and square leg for one.

And Marsh, who will now sweat on a call from selectors before next week’s Sydney Test, snicked off to Bumrah, before a wild delivery that jagged back in off the wicket clean bowled Alex Carey.

The dismissal of Head was Bumrah’s 200th in Test cricket and he became the first player to reach that mark with an average of less than 20.

He finished the day with 4-56 from 24.

He has 29 wickets for the series at an average of 12.34 and needs 10 more to pass Maurice Tate’s record of 38 wickets in a single series in Australia, which he took exactly 100 years ago in the 1924-25 Ashes.

“He just is relentless. He bowls a relentless length with that perpendicular angle, that action and he is tough to navigate,” Labuschagne said of Bumrah.

“Finding a way to navigate through his spells is important, it is clearly something we have got better at as the Test series has gone on.”

The pace wizard also beat the defence of Sam Konstas to put his eagerly-anticipated second crack at batting in Test cricket to an early end.

It came just before Usman Khawaja also fell, bowled by a charged-up Siraj who then turned and ordered the record crowd — who had been breathing fire towards him — to shush. It left Australia 2-53 at lunch.

Konstas’ brief stay on Sunday was not the same event as his swashbuckling show of bravado on the opening day.

This one, worth eight runs, had signs of the nerves any reasonable 19-year-old would have opening the batting for Australia.

He played and missed a number of times to both Bumrah and Akash Deep, who was trusted with new ball duties ahead of Siraj. His only boundary was a top-edge that raced to the boundary behind the wicket-keeper.

It hit the rope at the same spot as his outrageous reverse scoop shots on the opening morning but without the purpose or the mastery.

The New South Wales opener also battled a forearm injury and received attention and strapping from the team physio and doctor.

What Bumrah’s celebration did prove is just how well Australia’s fourth-youngest Test debutant has jumped into this fiery series.

In just a few days he has got under the skin of the Indian’s including the very composed Bumrah and the legendary Virat Kohli, and has already become a key wicket.

“I’m pretty sure the young guy got under his skin a bit,” Labuschagne said.

“He will love getting in the contest and he will love that Bumrah has revved it up.”

Australia took the wicket of centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy for 114 early on the fourth morning.

But that was only after a controversial moment where the third umpire took just seconds to rule a Siraj edge not out, despite replays showing it did not hit the ground before carrying to the slips.