India crushed a lower-order insurrection to secure a nerve-jangling 31-run victory in the first test against Australia on Monday, raising the South Asian nation's hopes of a breakthrough series win Down Under.

The tourists despatched Australia's last four batsmen in the middle session of the final day at Adelaide Oval to send India's 'Swami Army' of travelling fans into raptures in the sparse fifth day crowd.Faced with a docile wicket and tenacious tail-end slogging, Virat Kohli's team bowled with patience and determination to claim India's first win in the country since Anil Kumble's men beat a Ricky Ponting-led Australia by 72 runs in Perth in 2008.

It was also India's first win in a test series-opener in Australia and they will head to Perth for the second of the four scheduled contests full of confidence.Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the final wicket of Josh Hazlewood for 13 to dismiss Australia for 291, with Nathan Lyon unbeaten on 38 after a valiant chase of 323 for victory.

"These things happen in test cricket... but it's important to stay calm at that point," Kohli said in a post-match interview. "They gave it a go, they tried their best but I think we executed our plans eventually."

Regarding his own reaction, he said, "I wasn't as cool as ice but you try not to show it". About India's approach going to the next test match, Kohli said, "We will be gunning for a result in every Test. As I have said, it is upto the batsmen to step up. Pujara and Rahane were very good. When they bat like that together, they are our most solid pair." He said Pujara was outstanding and was the difference between the two teams. Kohli also didn't fail to mention that Vijay and Rahul gave handy start in the second innings. 

Overall Kohli expressed satisfaction with the win and said, "If someone told me you would be one Test up after the first Test in Australia, I would've taken that with both hands. So pretty happy at the moment." He said, "With 4 bowlers picking up 20 wickets in a test match away from home, especially with the ball that does not offer you so much is something that we can be proud of. But we need to build on this, we can't be happy with one test match". 

R Ashwin faced some criticism for failing to break the Australian lower order in the second innings. However, Kohli defended his ace spinner and said that it was a good start for him. Kohli explained that Ashwin was given a task of ensuring that Australia doesn't get too many as that it would have put immense pressure on the bowlers. According to Kohli, Ashwin kept it tight and ended up with six wickets which can be taken as a positive start as the off-spinner didn't exactly have done well Down Under earlier. 

Kohli said that the pitch became very slow and Australians put a price in their wicket and India was aware that their tail is strong. Kohli said that Indian bowlers doing well is a very positive sign, and pointed out that they hadn't done well with Kookaburra bowl in the past. Kohli said that Indians didn't do well in the first innings and Pujara got them back in the match and never let the pressure off. 

Kohli said that Indian team was very positive about the result in the morning. He said that they were clear that either India will win or draw the match. 

With Reuters inputs