Hyderabad, Oct 5: Yuvraj Singh's heroic 121 went in vain as a ruthless Australia maintained their stranglehold in the series with a comfortable 47-run victory over India in the third cricket one dayer here today. The formidable Australians rattled up 290 for seven and then bundled out the home team for 243 in 47.4 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series, leaving the hosts with the herculean task of winning four matches in a row to win the rubber. It was another display of awesome cricket by the world champions, who never allowed the Indians to recover from a horrendous start of 13 for three, although the in-form Yuvraj's 115-ball knock injected some life in the match, which was refreshingly free of any on-field skirmishes.

The Australian innings was largely built around Andrew Symonds blistering 83-ball 89, while opener Matthew Hayden (60) and Michael Clarke (59) chipped in with useful contributions. Barring Yuvraj, none of the other Indian batsmen could get going on a good batting strip at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and fell well short of the target despite packing the team with seven specialist batsmen. Sachin Tendulkar (43) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) got the starts but could not convert it into big knock as the Aussies kept up the pressure by claiming wickets at regular intervals.

Both the sides will now move to Chandigarh for the fourth match of the series. Chasing 291, India lost their top three batsmen inside five overs, with the score reading merely 13. Brett Lee trapped Gautam Gambhir (6) with a fuller one in the third over and Robin Uthappa perished the same way in the next over, without bothering the scorer and awarding Mitchell Johnson his first wicket. Crisis compounded in the fifth over when Rahul Dravid, rather uncharacteristically, poked at a Lee delivery to perish caught behind, leaving India in dire strait. Yuvraj and Tendulkar played with caution and raised the hope of a comeback but Brad Hogg had other ideas. Hogg once again proved a handful for the Indians and he silenced the stadium in the 25th over when Tendulkar went for a cut and missed the line to see the ball clip his off-stump.

Captain Dhoni was not allowed any leway for his free-flowing strokeplay and he was content nudging and pushing his way, while helping himself to the occasional boundaries. Ricky Ponting brought back Lee to break the stand and the pacer did not disappoint as he induced an edge to see Dhoni back. In the next over, Lee took a running catch to remove Rohit Sharma (1) off James Hopes. Yuvraj, however, refused to be bogged down by the series of setbacks as he brought his 50 in 61 balls and he eventually completed his century in 104 balls that had 11 fours and a six in it.

Hogg, meanwhile, removed Irfan Pathan (3) and then Johnson struck the deadly blow in the 44th over to snuff the life out of India's fightback. Running out of partners, Yuvraj tried to work it on the on-side as the Johnson delivery upset his timberworks. It was a scintillating knock from the dashing batsman who hit 12 fours and three sixes on his way to 121. Earlier, Indian bowlers managed to keep the Australian total under 300, picking up four wickets in the last five overs. S Sreesanth took the prized wicket of Symonds by having him caught on the penultimate ball and then removed James Hopes on the last ball of the innings.

Australia got off to a flying start, cruising to 76 when Irfan Pathan gave India its first breakthrough by removing Adam Gilchrist (29). Hayden was in punishing mood again even though comeback man Ricky Ponting was subdued and needed 43 balls for his 25. Pathan had his second victim in Hayden who returned caught behind and the exit of the towering Aussie considerably slowed down the Australian run rate. Yuvraj then had Ponting caught by Sreesanth and Zaheer later scalped Brad Hodge (3) but Symonds and Clarke treated the Indian bowlers with disdain and scored at a brisk pace. Symonds followed his second-match 87 with yet another blazing knock, hitting five sixes and as many fours. He punished Yuvraj in the closing stages, hitting two sixes and a four off successive balls. Indian fielding was once again sloppy as Zaheer fumbled while trying to run out Hayden, while Sreesanth dropped a high return catch off James Hopes in the last over before removing him and Symonds off successive balls. (Agencies) - Scorecard