Harbhajan Singh took four wickets as India completed a 172-run victory over Australia in the final Test in Nagpur to seal a 2-0 victory in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Singh (4-64) and Amit Mishra (3-27) destroyed the Australian battling line-up as the tourists collapsed from 111-2 at lunch to 209 all out.

Matthew Hayden produced a typically belligerent 77, and Cameron White made a valiant 26 not out, but India's spinners made maximum use of the worn wicket to complete the series win. It was the first time since 1988-89 that Australia had lost a Test series by more than one match.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth, India's chairman of selectors, hailed the side for the manner of their victory.

"Australia is the No 1 team in the world and what I like about this victory is that India beat them fair and square," Srikkanth said. "This is not a typical Indian turning wicket, but a pretty placid track which has been pretty good for batting.

"In Mohali it was a flat track too and we beat them comprehensively. Considering the circumstances and the condition of the wicket, I think we beat them very well."

Srikkanth, who saw captain Anil Kumble retire after the third Test, with Ganguly following him after this match, said: "This is an absolute team effort. The batting has been fantastic, especially the starts from Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. And this match Murali Vijay gave us the right impetus.

"It has been the key to this series victory. If you look at the bowling analysis of the team as well, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan have done extremely well on what essentially are placid tracks.

"Wickets in India are not conducive to fast bowling and there has been very little in it for the pacers.

"Yet, they have produced the breakthroughs at the right time and have provided Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra a fine platform to work from. The middle-order batted well with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni all consistently contributing runs.

"This has been a super team effort."

Dhoni took over as skipper from Kumble and Srikkanth believes he has the right man for the job. "Dhoni has his own style of captaincy and he has led very well. It's three victories from three matches for him now," Srikkanth said.