Australia trailed India by 75 runs after a remarkable opening day of the second Test in Sydney on Tuesday, with 13 wickets falling to raise the prospect of another four-day match.
India were skittled out for 191 off 59.3 overs and the hosts lost three early wickets before recovering to 116 for three at the close.
At stumps, skipper Michael Clarke (47) and former captain Ricky Ponting (44) had restored the Australian innings with an unbroken 79-run stand.
Young Australian paceman James Pattinson ripped the heart out of the tourists' decorated batting line-up with four wickets after India won the toss.
Skipper M.S. Dhoni top-scored with an unbeaten 57 as the tourists fell apart again after being routed for 169 in the second innings of last week's first Test in Melbourne, which they lost by 122 runs inside four days.
Amid the carnage, Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket's greatest run-scorer, again failed in his pursuit of his hundredth international hundred as he was bowled off an inside edge for 41, giving Pattinson his fourth wicket.
Pattinson, 21, playing in only his fourth Test match, was the chief destroyer and had figures of four for 43 off 14 overs, with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and short-leg fielder Ed Cowan taking three catches each.
But Australia's innings lurched quickly into trouble with the loss of three wickets in nine overs as Zaheer Khan cushioned the blow of his team's dismal innings.
David Warner was out for eight to Zaheer's sixth ball, snapped up by Tendulkar in the slips after a fumble by Laxman.
Shaun Marsh followed for a first-ball duck on the first delivery of Zaheer's next over and Cowan fell leg before wicket for 16 to the left-armer.
Clarke and Ponting were finding the going easy in the final hour, showing ominous signs of building a big first-innings lead on the second day.
Pattinson earlier triggered the tourists' slide when had Gautam Gambhir out off the third ball of the match, nudging an outswinger to Clarke at first slip for a duck to continue his poor series.
India have now gone 10 Test innings without a half-century opening stand.
Rahul Dravid fell to a bat-pad catch to Cowan in Peter Siddle's second over for five off 33 balls.
Danger man Virender Sehwag had a "life" on 23 when he was dropped by Ponting at second slip off Ben Hilfenhaus, but the big-hitter fell to another splendid Pattinson delivery, nicking to Haddin for 30 off 51 balls in the 19th over.
Pattinson, bowling with beautiful shape, tempted V.V.S. Laxman to edge a drive to Marsh at third slip for a disappointing two after scores of two and one in Melbourne.
It was a rare batting failure for Laxman at the SCG, which statistically is his most productive scoring venue outside of India -- his five previous Test knocks in Sydney have produced three hundreds and an average of 96.20.
His cheap dismissal left India struggling at 59 for four and while Virat Kohli showed some promise, he too fell to a catch behind, off Siddle for 23.
Ravi Ashwin (20) and Zaheer (0) fell in consecutive balls in Hilfenhaus's last over before tea and were followed by Ishant Sharma (0) and Umesh Yadav (0) to mop up India's innings.
Tendulkar, 38, has been stranded on 99 Test and one-day international centuries since scoring 111 against South Africa in the World Cup in March.
The Sydney Cricket Ground has been one of the "Little Master's" favourite Test grounds, where he averaged an incredible 221.33 and scored three of his 51 Test hundreds coming into this week's Test.
But he again failed to capitalise on a solid start, following his fluent 73 in Melbourne.
This is the centenary Test match at the SCG, which is only the third ground in Test cricket behind Lord's (123) in London and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (104) to stage 100 Tests.