Aussies Win Hands Down

India were outclassed in all departments of the game as Australia pulverised the visitorsfor a seven-wicket victory and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three tri-series finalsin Melbourne today.

Chasing a modest Indian total of 222, the world champions raced to the target in 40.1 overs, thanks to a quickfire80-ball 88 by captain Ricky Ponting and his 139-run stand with half-centurion Matthew Hayden.

Beaten hands down in the one-sided contest, India have now 48 hours to regroup for the second final slated for Sundayin Sydney and take the finals to the third match in Brisbane on February 10.

India were hardly ever allowed into the game once Adam Gilchrist gave a characteristic whirlwind start to theAustralian innings with a 20-ball 38 and Ponting revived memories of his World Cup form with his blitzkrieg.

The hosts raced to the 100-run mark while losing just one wicket in the 18th over and although they did lose a couple ofquick wickets, it hardly mattered as they had already cantered to the 200 run-mark by then.

Nothing seemed to go right for the Indians ever since Saurav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat as they lostsix wickets with just 75 runs on the board.

It was only through a rearguard action by Hemang Badani (60 no) and Ajit Agarakar (53) that they were saved from further ignominy. 

The record 102-run stand between Badani and Agarkar for the seventh wicket turned out to be the only saving grace forthe Indians who looked a pale shadow of the side that had been quite impressive right through the summer.

Having restricted the Indians to a quite manageable total on a good batting track at the Melbourne Cricket Ground,the Aussies launched the chase in their usual aggressive fashion, entertaining the near 50,000 crowd to the hilt.

Gilchrist was simply amazing as he slammed seven fours to rip apart the pedestrian Indian attack before he pulled acatch to Sachin Tendulkar at fine leg off Lakshmipathy Balaji who also picked the only other two wickets to fall in theAustralian innings.

Ponting then took off from where his deputy left, cracking seven fours and two sixes in his 80-ball knock. Hewas dismissed when he fine edged to be caught behind by Rahul Dravid.

The dismissal of Hayden, who was subdued during his 91-ball 50, was a little dramatic as Balaji made ahalf-hearted appeal after he had the batsman caught off a half-volley. Umpire Steve Bucknor thought it had carried onthe bounce but the third umpire ruled in the favour of the bowler after much thought.

Damien Martyn (20 no) then got some useful batting practice in the company of Andrew Symonds (10 no) to takeAustralia home. That the winning four runs came through an overthrow only summed up India's miserable day.

Earlier, the ghosts of Perth revisited India, despite the wicket at the MCG being not even a shade as bouncy. Thestar-studded top order batsmen were made to look like a bunch of school boys by Lee and company.

With six of the top batsmen back in the pavilion for just 75 runs in 22 overs, India owed their competitive total toBadani and Agarkar whose 63-ball 53 (4x4, 2x6) must have done enough to blow away his batting blues Down Under.

The duo stitched the most valuable stand for the Indians, putting on 102 runs off 119 balls for the seventh wicket tobetter the previous record of 100 runs between Ganguly and Sunil Joshi in Singer Cup in Colombo in 1996.

Lee carried his form from Perth, rattling the famed Indian batting lineup once again with his sheer pace andpicking two wickets for 34, including the prized scalp of  Tendulkar (8).

But more than good bowling, the Indian batsmen owed their failure to poor application and ambitiousstrokeplay. 

Had Ponting not allowed them to run away with some easy runs in the middle overs, the Indian scorecard could havecut a really sorry figure.

India's misery began with the third successive failure of their openers -- Sehwag (3) and Tendulkar beingdismissed with only 14 on the board in the seventh over.

Sehwag was caught unawares by a lifting delivery from Gillespie (2/39) which hit his handle and lobbed up forwicketkeeper Gilchrist to take the catch.

But Lee did not need any assistance to get Tendulkar out, the straight and quick delivery screaming past thebatsman's defence and uprooting the off-stump.

V.V.S. Laxman (24) and Rahul Dravid (12) led a brief revival before both fell at 48 within an over of each other.

Ganguly (6) too looked out of sorts and unconvincing but still hung around with Yuvraj Singh (21) for some time beforeboth departed for 75.

The Indian captain tried to cut Harvey and was caught by the wicketkeeper standing close to the wickets.

Lee was recalled for his second spell in the sixth over and struck with his first ball, angling it across theleft-hander Yuvraj's bat to induce an edge, gloved neatly by Gilchrist.

Agarkar and Badani then took over, though the former was terrible to start with, repeatedly missing deliveriesoutside his off-stump.

But Agarkar soon got going with some bold strokes, none better than two sixes off Symonds and Harvey as heraced ahead of his specialist partner to his half century in just 52 balls.

PTI