Chasing a steep victory target, India needed a solid start to give them some chance but that was not to be as Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar did not last long. Instead, the hosts soon found themselves in a complete mess, reeling at 87 for four inside 15th over. And when Rahul Dravid (31) departed in the 26th over, India had lost top half of their batting order for a meagre 136. The writing was clearly on the wall by then and it was just a matter of time before the visitors wrapped up the match. Mitchell Johnson drew the first blood in the fourth over when his off-cutter got the better of Gautam Gambhir's (7) defence to clip the bails. Next man in Uthappa started with a scrappy boundary but followed it up a with a convincing one. The youngster was in his usual belligerent mood as he hit Brett Lee for back-to-back fours and then hoicked him for a six in his next over.

Subdued so far, Sachin Tendulkar (16) got enthused by the idea and pulled Lee for a six and hit a four as well in that productive over first change bowler Stuart Clark decided to break million hearts. It was the fifth delivery of his first over when he induced Tendulkar for an uppish drive that found Andrew Symonds at short cover. Yuvraj Singh (10) walked in with huge responsibilities on his shoulder and made the most of the Free Hit delivery after James Hopes had overstepped while sending down his first ball. Hit for a six, Hopes settled the score three deliveries later when Yuvraj drove to Hayden at short cover. Eight more runs and crisis compounded as Uthappa returned, trapped by Clark after a 30-ball 41 that had four boundaries and two sixes in it.

The momentum snapped there and former captain Dravid and incumbent Dhoni only managed to labour on. Dravid greeted Brad Hogg with a sweet six over midwicket and almost repeated the stroke in his next over before Mitchell Johnson took a brilliant catch inches off the rope. By then, the match was as good as over for the hosts. Irfan Pathan (1) returned after an almighty mix-up with his captain, while Harbhajan Singh (4) was stumped off Michael Clarke, who also castled Ramesh Powar (17). Hogg polished the last two wickets of Zaheer Khan (3) and Dhoni to finish with three for 40. Contrary to Met office predictions of rain, the game started half an hour late in bright sunshine and the capacity crowd at the Nehru stadium had plenty to cheer as the hosts seized early initiatives.

Australia slumped to eight for two wickets in the fourth over with Adam Gilchrist (0) and Brad Hodge (3) cooling their heels in the pavilion. Michael Clarke (27) too departed just when he was looking dangerous. Symonds partnered Hayden to add 94 runs for the fourth wicket to stem the rot and then teamed up with Haddin to add 108 runs in 15.4 balls to swell the tally. For India, S Sreesanth was the pick of the bowlers, scalping three after conceding 67 runs in his expensive and erratic 9 overs. The moisture in the pitch prompted host captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to insert the visitors and Zaheer Khan's seventh ball of the first over -- his fourth was wide -- kissed Gilchrist's blade before nestling into Sachin Tendulkar's safe hands at first slip. Sreesanth responded to his new ball partner by removing Hodge with the first ball of his second over that took an inside edge en route to Dhoni's gloves. Clarke and Hayden decided to arrest the slide, helping them to occasional boundaries in between. The pair had added 58 runs for the third wicket when a fullish delivery from Irfan Pathan slipped down the leg and Dhoni, standing up to breath down Clarke's neck, whipped off the bails as the batsman overbalanced.

The Hayden-Symonds pair did not find going particularly easy, especially against the spin twin of Ramesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh, but they used their feet well and had enough bat in their shots to clear the ropes. Tendulkar arrived with his bag of tricks but Hayden treated him with his characteristic disdain, forcing Dhoni to bring back Pathan and the seamer did the trick with the first ball of the 32nd over. Pathan's yorker eluded Hayden's blade and uprooted the leg stump to end his 89-ball knock that included five hits to the fence besides three towering sixes. Haddin hit Harbhajan for couple of sixes and then Symonds struck successive fours off Zaheer to up the tempo. It was torment for the host bowlers as the duo blunted and milked the Indian attack with consummate ease. Local favourite Sreesanth finally removed Symonds when he caught the batsman off his own bowling before bursting into an animated celebration. Symonds' knock included nine boundaries besides a couple of sixes. There was, however, no stopping for Haddin, who went about his job with an air of panache and milked 17 runs from the penultimate over from Zaheer. Haddin needed just 69 balls for his unbeaten 87 that had eight fours and three sixes in it. Scorecard (Agencies)