When the dust settles from Australia's tour de farce, one subject should stand out above all else. Not 'Homeworkgate', not the dynamic between Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, and not Mickey Arthur's disabled Twitter account. Australia was not short on shortcomings in the subcontinent over the past five weeks. However, none of their flaws were as glaring as those of the top-order batsmen. Australia were officially wiped out 4-0 - the worst Australian series result in 34 years - on the third day at a heaving Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Sunday despite the best efforts of a brilliant Nathan Lyon. The off-spinner took career-best figures of 7-94 and claimed nine wickets for the match, including Sachin Tendulkar for a fourth time - a record for an Australian spinner. But once again the output of Australia's batsmen was the thorn in Australia's side, this time costing them any chance of a victory that at least would have made the end-of-tour drinks a little less bitter. It was, for the second Test in a row and second time in the one match, left to Australia's tail to right the wrongs of those above them. Peter Siddle is not picked to make the bulk of the team's runs but, like Mitchell Starc in Mohali, he did so in Delhi. His second fifty of the match - becoming the first Test No.9 ever to perform that feat - at least ensured India had to chase a target, 155, that was not a complete gift. It was ultimately not enough, even on a treacherous surface prepared for a good time, not a long time. Propelled by Cheteshwar Pujara (82 not out) India eventually secured a six-wicket win, finished off fittingly by captain MS Dhoni's slog through midwicket late in the afternoon. It was Australia's best showing of the series but history will not remember this touring party fondly. Not since the summer of 1978/79 had an Australian team been thrashed by such a margin and Graham Yallop's side was beaten 5-1 by England in the middle of the World Series Cricket era - when many of the country's best players were banned. It is also the first 4-0 defeat since Bill Lawry's men were annihilated by South Africa in 1969/70. To add salt to the wounds they are also the worst-performing Australian team to ever visit the subcontinent. India, in their 80 years and 70 home series of Tests, had never before won four matches in a series, securing the ultimate revenge for their own 4-0 defeat in Australia two summers ago. This is not where Australia had hoped to be nearly three months out from the Ashes. "It's extremely disappointing," said Watson, the stand-in captain. We came here with high hopes of having a good series here and the 4-0 here is what we deserved. The Indians have totally outplayed us. We haven't played to our best unfortunately. It certainly has been a big learning curve and that is one of the biggest challenges for us as a team is continuing to learn very quickly. The flashpoint of the tour - the standing down of the so-called Mohali Four -will leave a legacy of its own. But its continuing post-script should not overshadow just how comprehensively out-played Australia were. Australia's bowlers have made their own blues in this series, and so have the selectors: why, for example, was Lyon dropped in Hyderabad? But no one is more accountable for the dismal campaign than those batting positions one to four. Watson was the most guilty, particularly considering his rich experience in India, and there was more of the same on Sunday. His shot, rocking back and trying unsuccessfully to heave the left-armer Pragyan Ojha to the boundary, was not one out of the leadership handbook. He was on only five at the time, and his exit left Australia 4-51, a scenario that soon got considerably worse, spared only by another lion-hearted performance from Siddle. Only Clarke and Steve Smith averaged over 40 on this tour, and aside from that, the gritty Ed Cowan (33.18) is the one other recognised batsman whose average in the series exceeded 25. Clarke was the solitary Australian batsman to score a hundred in the series. Watson, whose highest score was 28, is still waiting for a third Test century nearly 30 months after his last. "Hopefully I haven't rubbed off on too many of them because that would be a shame if they all get my disease," he said. For all of us as top-order batsmen, it has been very disappointing. Michael continues to be in amazing form. It just hasn't been good enough from all of us to be able to score the runs we know we needed, especially in the first innings. I'm the first one to put my hand up because I certainly haven't been good enough in this series. For me as an experienced senior player, it's part of my role to be able to stand up and score runs. It has been very disappointing not to be able to do that. I personally take a lot of blame for that. Led by Lyon and Siddle, Australia did fight admirably on Sunday afternoon but will hardly be upset about an early flight out of here. There are unlikely to be any street parades awaiting them at home. Australia (1st innings) 262 India (1st Innings - overnight 8-266) M VIJAY c Wade b Siddle 57 C PUJARA b Lyon 52 V KOHLI lbw b Lyon 1 S TENDULKAR lbw b Lyon 32 A RAHANE c Smith b Lyon 7 M DHONI c Watson b Pattinson 24 R JADEJA lbw b Maxwell 43 R ASHWIN lbw b Lyon 12 B KUMAR not out 14 I SHARMA b Lyon 0 P OJHA lbw b Lyon 0 Sundries (12b, 18lb) 30 Total 272 Fall of wickets: 108 (Pujara), 114 (Kohli), 148 (Vijay), 165 (Rahane), 180 (Tendulkar), 210 (Dhoni), 254 (Jadeja), 266 (Ashwin), 272 (Sharma), 272 (Ojha) Bowling: M Johnson 17-3-44-0, J Pattinson 14-1-54-1, P Siddle 12-3-38-1, N Lyon 23.2-4-94-7, G Maxwell 4-0-12-1 Australia (2nd Innings) D WARNER lbw b Jadeja 8 G MAXWELL b Jadeja 8 E COWAN lbw b Jadeja 24 P HUGHES lbw b Ashwin 6 S WATSON b Ojha 5 S SMITH b Jadeja 18 M WADE c Dhoni b Ojha 19 M JOHNSON b Jadeja 0 P SIDDLE st Dhoni b Ashwin 50 J PATTINSON b Sharma 11 N LYON not out 5 Sundries (8b, 2lb) 10 Total 164 Fall of wickets: 15 (Maxwell), 20 (Warner), 41 (Hughes), 51 (Watson), 53 (Cowan), 94 (Smith), 94 (Johnson), 122 (Wade), 157 (Pattinson), 164 (Siddle) Bowling: B Kumar 2-0-9-0, R Ashwin 15.3-2-55-2, R Jadeja 16-2-58-5, P Ojha 11-2-19-2, I Sharma 2-0-13-1 India (2nd innings) M VIJAY b Maxwell 11 C PUJARA not out 82 V KOHLI lbw b Lyon 41 S TENDULKAR lbw b Lyon 1 A RAHANE c Lyon b Maxwell 1 M.S. DHONI not out 12 Sundries (9b, 1lb) 10 Total (4 wkts) 158 Fall of wicket: 19 (Vijay), 123 (Kohli), 127 (Tendulkar), 128 (Rahane) Bowling: N Lyon 15.2-0-71-2, G Maxwell 11-0-54-2, M Johnson 2-0-16-0, Pattinson 3-0-7-0 Result: India won by six wickets Series: India won four-Test series 4-0