Nagpur, Oct 14: Andrew Symonds bludgeoned Indian bowling to notch up his sixth 100 and pilot Australia to an imposing 317 for eight in the sixth and penultimate cricket one-dayer at the VCA Stadium here today. Symonds, coming into this match with superb knocks of 87, 89 and 75 in previous ODIs as well as on the back of a race-related controversy at Vadodara, was once again the thorn in the home team's flesh after being dropped on 2 and 39. The 32-year-old Queenslander made a typically aggressive unbeaten 107, with the help of nine fours and four sixes in only 88 balls after coming to the crease at 102 for three in the 16th over.

Symonds added 75 runs for the fifth wicket with Brad Haddin, back into the XI for the injured and in-form opener Matthew Hayden after three matches, and then 90 runs for the next in 48 balls with fellow all-rounder James Hopes (39). Three dropped catches cost the home team dear yet another time, with the beneficiaries being Symonds, who was dropped by Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh, and the other half-centurion - opener Adam Gilchrist. The missed chances, some wayward bowling and the spate of ground fielding errors enabled Australia to notch up their third plus-300 score in the series and set the hosts a difficult asking rate of 6.36 to win the match and keep their hopes of squaring the series alive.

Opting to bat, Australia got off to a flying start after the loss of makeshift opener Michael Clarke in the first over through a breezy 96-run stand in only 85 balls between the left-handed Gilchrist (51, 47b, 4x8) and captain Ricky Ponting (49 in 44 balls with 7 fours and a six). But the fall of the two seasoned and well-set batsmen in a short span put the Indians back into the game on a dry pitch affording sharp turn and a bit of bounce to the home team spinners led by Harbhajan Singh, before Australia rallied around through the hard-hitting Symonds who smashed four huge sixes off the spinners. The early breakthrough for India came through a fortunate manner when Clarke touched a leg side ball from Zaheer Khan and was caught behind off a faint edge in the first over.

But thereafter Gilchrist, dropped on 16 in 28 for one, and then Ponting took a heavy toll of Zaheer and a wayward Sreesanth, who had come into the 11 in place of R P Singh after a gap of two ties, respectively. Ponting smacked Zaheer's short ball over square leg for a six to set the tone for his second wicket partner Gilchrist to wade into Sreesanth in the bowler's second over. The left-handed vice-captain slashed the temperamental bowler and then straight drove him for two successive fours before slashing a drive high to gully where Rahul Dravid, who brought off two smart catches at slip later, failed to latch on to the ball.

Gilchrist then whacked Sreesanth for three fours and drove him off the firing line as the 50 came up in the seventh over. Irfan Pathan, who substituted Sreesanth at the bowling end, was unlucky to see Ponting's edge off an attempted flick going for a four and then umpire Amish Saheba turning down a very confident shout for leg before, with the batsman rapped on the pads right in front. Ponting took over the attacking reins from this stage and overtook Gilchrist as he essayed two lofted drives for fours off Zaheer Khan forcing Indian captain Mahendra Dhoni to bring in Harbhajan Singh from the left armer's end. The move paid off almost immediately after Gilchrist had hit the off spinner, who managed to get sharp turn and lift off the pitch, for two fours. Ponting was the batsman to be dismissed when he edged a defensive prod for Dravid to pouch the catch at slip to his left.

Ponting and Gilchrist's second wicket partnership was worth 96 in 85 balls. Soon after the 100 of the innings was raised in 15.2 overs, Gilchrist fell by driving Pathan straight to Robin Uthappa in the covers. The wickets of the two well-set batsmen in the space of just eight balls and addition of four runs brought India back in the game strongly as the ball was spinning. But Symonds and out-of-form Brad Hodge negotiated the double spin attack of Harbhajan and left arm Murali Kartik. Symonds was lucky to see Sreesanth reacting late to a top-edged sweep off Harbhajan and grassing the ball after a desperate dive in front. It was a costly error as the Australians would have not only lost one of their prime batsmen at the score of 109 for three, but also prevented the fall of the third wicket in a short period. Symonds was given a reprieve later by Harbhajan, a difficult one-handed catch, off his own bowling. Hodge, with a run of poor scores behind him, looked nervous, and departed edging Kartik to Dravid at slip. (Agencies)