Nathan Lyon appeals during day five. Picture: Simon Cross Source: News Corp Australia

Nathan Lyon of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Ishant Sharma of India to give Australia victory during day five. Source: Getty Images

The captain limped off in the second session with an injury to his right hamstring (previously it had been his left) and returned later to announced the results of a scan were “not fantastic”.

“I will struggle to take any part in the rest of this series,” Clarke said.

LIVE BLOG: Australia v India, day five.

Shaun Marsh will take his place in the side, but contemplation of the captain’s misfortunes should not distract from the effort and magnitude of what happened in Adelaide in the past five days.

This was a classic Test match, dragging every ounce of effort, emotion and drama out of the five days. Having begun with a moving tribute to Phillip Hughes it evolved to become a tribute to the beauty of the long form game itself.

Lyon came of age on the fifth day. He followed his 5-134 in the first innings with a gutsy 7-153 from 34 overs to win the game for his country and to win man of the match.

India were bowled out at 5.38pm with 10 overs remaining after looking good to pull off a remarkable win. Virat Kohli (141) had followed Warner to become the second batsman to score two centuries in the match but his efforts were not enough.

The visitors 2-242 at the start of the last session but lost 8-73 as Lyon completed one of his greatest ever performances with the ball.

When Lyon took the last wicket of the match he ran toward the Sir Donald Bradman Pavilion and was only caught by his team mates when he stopped next to Hughes 408 in the grass.

The prolonged embraces that followed found room for memory of their fallen mate, the off-spinner kneeling down to touch the grass where the number was painted.

Fortunes fluctuated slowly as the day unfolded. Australia declared overnight with a lead of 363.

When Shikhar Dhawan (9) was given out with the score on 16 to a ball that had bounced off his shoulder, it seemed luck was against India and the run chase too big.

Mitchell Johnson, it seemed, was on the way and the inevitable at hand.

Cheteshwar Pujara (21) was the next victim, catching the finest edge to a ball from Lyon which was taken by a gleeful Haddin. The score was 2-57 and victory still 306 runs off.

Enter Kohli, one part Siamese fighting fish and three parts the batsman for such a situation. He and Murali Vijay proceeded to wrest the game back in the favour of the Indians.

Together they survived to lunch and as they gained confidence in the afternoon session they set about running down the game.

Kohli beat the opener to 100, but would have had every right to expect Vijay to join him at the summit soon. Unfortunately the batsman, who had survived close LBW calls, was not so fortunate when he needed it most and was adjudged out on 99.

He could not complain about that decision, nor could anyone complain about the pair’s 185 run partnership.

Lyon had his second wicket but still had not dispelled the widely held concern that he could not finish off matches when needed. A lot of ink has been spilled on this subject and there was a lot being ordered for tomorrow’s pages if things had not turned out as they did.

Lyon had found his moment and a bit of luck. Five balls after Vijay departed, the umpire decided Ajinkya Rahane had nicked a ball onto his pads and into the waiting hands of Steve Smith.

Had there been DRS, Marais Erasmus’s decision would have been overturned, but India will not have such devices and so it is not in play in the series.

India were 4-243 and had started to lose balance.

Rohit Sharma is no slouch with the bat but had only got to six when Lyon caught the edge of his bat and Warner completed a very good catch.

The spinner had his first 10-wicket haul when Wriddhiman Saha made a ridiculous charge at him only to be clean bowled.

Kohli was next to go, well caught despite an initial misjudgment from Mitch Marsh on the boundary. Lyon was the bowler again. The Indian captain had made 141 and this was his first attempt to go aerial. He remained at the crease for sometime after, gutted by his mistake.

Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson both chipped in but it was Lyon who finished the job, luring Ishant Sharma out of his crease.

He was still there when Haddin completed the stumping and the Australians had pulled off a very good win in what had been a very good game of Test cricket.