A re-invigorated Australian side bounced back from consecutive defeats in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series with a resounding 110 run victory over world champions India in the 7th game of the tournament at the Gabba in Brisbane on Sunday. Having lost the toss again, India were made to chase leather on a humid afternoon by Australia, who made an overwhelming 288 for 5 thanks to a late innings bash from David Hussey and Dan Christian that saw the pair muster 101 runs in the last 10 overs. India's reply never challenged Australia as they slumped to a hapless 178 all out on the back of a shoddy top order display from India's frontline batsmen.

Both sides made one change from the XIs that started their previous fixtures with Australia having to bring in Ben Hilfenhaus for Clint McKay, who was out due to illness, while India opted to leave out off-spinner Ravi Ashwin for the experienced Zaheer Khan. Virender Sehwag who was expected to be rotated back into this game for the very much in-form Gautam Gambhir was forced to miss out due to his continuing back troubles.

Australia got a reprieve as early as the second ball of the day with Rohit Sharma needlessly diving in-front of Sachin Tendulkar from second slip and grassing an outside edge produced by Zaheer from Matthew Wade. That was probably the slice of luck that this pair was desperately longing for as both Matthew Wade and David Warner knuckled down early in the innings wanting to get away to a decent start that evaded them so far in the series. It took the pair a few overs to get their first boundary, but once they got it, the flood gates opened for Australia. David Warner smacked 14 runs off the 9th over of the innings from Zaheer Khan, that included a splendid straight hit for six off an over pitched delivery to get the momentum in Australia's favour. After 10 overs of the innings Australia got to their first 50 opening stand of the series, with the score on 51/0.

Just as the Aussie opening pair looked like taking the game away from India, Irfan Pathan struck a crucial blow in the 13th over. David Warner clipped a straight delivery from Pathan to Tendulkar stationed at mid wicket. Warner, therefore missed another golden chance of making a big one, being dismissed for 43. Ricky Ponting coming in at No.3 once again looked scratchy at the crease and took an eternity to get off the mark.

After taking 12 balls to score his first run Ponting helped India pull back the run rate and was finally dismissed by Zaheer, caught at deep square leg by Irfan Pathan after making a painstaking 7 of 26 balls. India put the squeeze on further, following that wicket and contained the No.4 batsman Peter Forrest and Wade to get themselves back into the back. Suresh Raina filled in with his part time off spin beautifully and helped tie down the pair. They added 34 off 50 balls before Wade was dismissed for 45 , caught and bowled by Rohit Sharma after being beaten in the flight.

Michael Hussey coming in at No.5 had a good share of luck to help him get going early on. He was initially given out stumped by the third umpire off Raina only to be called back later to resume his innings as he seemed to have had something grounded behind the crease. He then was dropped at mid-wicket by Rohit Sharma, who missed a hard hit that burst through his hands. Sharma wasn't having the greatest day on the field having missed 2 chances on the day. After 34 overs in the innings, owing to some tight bowling from India, Australia were 145/3 with Mike Hussey and Peter Forrest looking well set.

The game was evenly poised at that stage, but India lost the momentum with some sloppy fielding and bowling. The hot and humid conditions at the Gabba got to the Indians as they struggled for traction. Forrest and Hussey put away a number of loose balls from Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav, to take Australia into a strong position. Hussey got to his fifty off just 45 balls without much trouble as Forrest at the other end too hit his straps and upped the ante. Australia got to 200 in the 42nd over looking good for a total of around 280 with plenty of batting to come. Forrest too notched up an important 50 and took the stand past 100 for the 4th wicket. With Australia looking ominous, India hit back again through Irfan Pathan who dismissed both the set batsmen in the same over. He first deceived Hussey with a clever slower ball and got him caught at deep mid wicket for 59 before Virat Kohli pulled off a fine low catch in the same position a few balls later to dismiss the right handed Forrest for 52. With six overs to go Australia were still well placed at 223/5 for a final onslaught.

In a situation that was tailor made for them, David Hussey and Dan Christian thrived and took Australia well past the 250 mark. Christian smashed 3 consecutive boundaries off Vinay Kumar and followed it up with a cheeky lap short past short fine leg in the 49th over to propel the score. They brought up a 50 run stand for the 6th wicket in just 29 balls to get Australia to a big total. Australia posted a massive 288/5 at the end of their 50 overs with the help of that quick fire stand of 65 off just 34 balls for the 6th wicket.

India's chase of 289 of was wrecked early by virtue of some poor cricket from their top order. Gautam Gambhir (5) fell to a peach from Brett Lee in the 3rd over, a delivery that took off from a length and found the edge through to the keeper. Matters got worse for India as Tendulkar (3), who wasn't in his elements owing to a shin injury he suffered while fielding, was dismissed soon after as he upper cut a short ball from Hilfenhaus straight to third man with the score on 16. Rohit Sharma coming in at 4, didn't trouble the scorers as he too fell soon after, slashing at a harmless delivery outside off from Lee and nicked ut through to Matthew Wade. Virat Kohli, who was dropped earlier in the innings by Doherty at third man, added 20 for the 4th wicket before he also fell to a poor shot, dabbing at one from Hilfenhaus and nicking it to David Hussey at first slip after making just 12 leaving India at a shoddy 36/4 after 11 overs.

The Dhoni-Raina pair looked to repair the early damage in the innings and stuck it out for a while. The pace and bounce in the Gabba wicket came to the fore with the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Starc bowling with plenty of steam. Lee in particular had a fantastic battle with the Indian captain during which he beat the bat on a number of occasions. Dhoni did get through that phase though with grit and determination while Raina at the other end began to get some fluency into his game. The left hander stroked a brilliant six straight down the ground off Starc to up his strike rate before he chased a wide one from Dan Christian and nicked it through to the keeper after making a promising 28. The duo added 46 for the 5th wicket but India were still a long way from the Aussie total and very much behind the asking rate with half their side back in the hutch.

Ravindra Jadeja, who surprisingly didn't have much to do in the afternoon, looked decently fluent early in his innings and managed to string together some runs with his captain. At the 30 over mark, India were 5 down for 114 still needing a 175 in the remaining overs at a little under 9 runs per over.

By this stage in the innings, India had all but given up this stiff chase, with their primary aim now clearly not to concede the bonus point for which they needed to get to 231. Even that aim suffered a blow a little while later as Jadeja (18) lost his head and looked to go for the big hit off Mitchell Starc and holed out at deep point courtesy a good diving catch from Peter Forrest.

India took the batting powerplay in the 35 over with the last recognised batting pair of MS Dhoni and Irfan Pathan at the crease. Pathan and Dhoni produced one six each in their partnership of 35 before Dhoni finally departed, mistiming a pull shot off Ben Hilfenhaus to mid-wicket after making 56. Vinay Kumar (6), coming in No.9 added 13 with Pathan before he was cleaned up by a yorker from Lee that took out the leg stump as he was charging the bowler. Hilfenhaus then got his fourth wicket of the day as his short ball took the top edge of Irfan's bat and was well taken by Matthew Wade running to his right. India were eventually put out of their misery as another short one from Hilfenhaus induced another top edge from Zaheer(9) and was taken spectacularly again by Wade, diving forward.

That five-for from the Tasmanian reduced India to a mere 178 all out in reply to Australia's massive total of 288.

So, a poor bowling and fielding display at the death of the innings and yet another shambolic outing from their top six batsmen saw India slump to their second defeat in the tri nation series by a massive 110 runs. Australia on the other hand have done splendidly to bounce back from back to back defeats last week and assert their authority on the tournament once again with another bonus point victory. India will now need to come back strongly after this mauling to beat an on the rise Sri Lankan side on Tuesday.

Teams:

Australia: DA Warner, MS Wade (wk), RT Ponting (c), PJ Forrest, DJ Hussey, MEK Hussey, DT Christian, B Lee, MA Starc, XJ Doherty, BW Hilfenhaus.

India: SR Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Kohli, SK Raina, RG Sharma, MS Dhoni (c & wk) , RA Jadeja, IK Pathan, R Vinay Kumar, Z Khan, U Yadav.

Mini Scorecard:

Australia 288/5 (50 overs)
M Hussey 59(52) I Pathan 3/61
P Forrest.  52(71) Z Khan 1/46

India 178 all out ( overs)
MS Dhoni 56(84) B Hilfenhaus 5/33
S Raina 28(42) B Lee 3/49

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20