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Hyderabad - Australia defeated India by three runs despite a scintillating 175 by Sachin Tendulkar, who smashed the 17 000-run barrier, in the fifth one-day international here on Thurday.
Tendulkar, 36, smashed 19 fours and four sixes for his 45th one-day century before India were bowled out for 347 in 49.4 overs while chasing Australia's imposing 350-4 in 50 overs.
Tendulkar, who became the first batsman ever to surpass 17,000 runs in one-day cricket when he reached seven, also shared a 137-run partnership with Suresh Raina (59) to take India close in the day-night encounter.
But his dismissal in the 48th over proved the turning point of the game and handed Australia a 3-2 lead in the seven-match series.
Debutant fast bowler Clint McKay picked three wickets, including that of Tendulkar, while Shane Watson took 3-47 to cap a fine all-round performance, having scored 93 earlier.
Australia were also indebted to Shaun Marsh, who struck a career-best 112 and shared 145 runs for the opening wicket with Watson after the world champions won the toss and elected to bat at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium.
India began their chase in rollicking fashion with openers Virender Sehwag (38) and Tendulkar putting on 66 runs in 53 balls but lost their way in the middle with three quick dismissals.
Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and skipper Dhoni all failed to reach double-figures as they tried to go for the big shots, India slipping to a shaky 162-4 by the 24th over.
Raina kept his cool, reaching his 12th one-day half-century with a six before a Watson double strike tilted the scale back in Australia's favour.
Earlier, Marsh clobbered eight fours and two sixes in his run-a-ball knock for his maiden one-day hundred, reached with a clipped two to deep square leg off paceman Ashish Nehra (1-79).
Watson too thrived in batsmen-friendly conditions, hitting nine fours and three sixes in his 89-ball effort before being caught at deep mid-wicket as he tried to slog sweep off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (1-44).
Cameron White then hit a sparkling 57 off 33 balls to complete a run-feast by the injury-hit Aussies, missing nine of their regular one-day players to various niggles.
India's bowlers were left with little answer to the Aussie onslaught, as reflected in the dismal figures of fast bowlers Nehra and Munaf Patel (0-73). Praveen Kumar picked two wickets but at the cost of 68 runs in nine overs.
The visitors were off to a flying start with Watson and Marsh laying the platform for the huge total with their aggressive stroke-making.
Marsh, dropped on 29 by Dhoni and on 52 by Sehwag, was finally dismissed by Nehra who had him caught by Gambhir at long-on.
The next match will be played in Guwahati on Sunday.
Scoreboard:
Australia Innings
Shane Watson c Jadeja b Harbhajan 93
Shaun Marsh c Gambhir b Nehra 112
Ricky Ponting b Kumar 45
Cameron White c Tendulkar b Kumar 57
Michael Hussey not out 31
Extras: (6lb, 1nb, 5w) 12
TOTAL: (for 4 wickets) 350
Overs: 50.
Fall of wickets: 1-145, 2-236, 3-270, 4-350.
Did not bat: Adam Voges, Graham Manou, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus, Clint McKay.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 9-0-68-2, Ashish Nehra 10-0-79-1, Munaf Patel 9-0-73-0, Ravindra Jadeja 5-0-44-0, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-44-1, Yuvraj Singh 7-0-36-0.
India Innings
Virender Sehwag c Bollinger b Hilfenhaus 38
Sachin Tendulkar c Hauritz b McKay 175
Gautam Gambhir c Hilfenhaus b McKay 8
Yuvraj Singh c and b Watson 9
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Voges b McKay 6
Suresh Raina c Manou b Watson 59
Harbhajan Singh c Manou b Watson 0
Ravindra Jadeja run out 23
Praveen Kumar run out 9
Ashish Nehra c Hussey b Bollinger 1
Munaf Patel not out 2
Extras: (1b, 5lb, 3nb, 8w) 17
TOTAL: (all out) 347
Overs: 49.4.
Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-92, 3-126, 4-162, 5-299, 6-300, 7-332, 8-333, 9-335, 10-347.
Bowling: Ben Hilfenhaus 10-0-72-1, Doug Bollinger 10-0-75-1, Clint McKay 10-0-59-3, Shane Watson 8.4-0-47-3, Nathan Hauritz 5-0-43-0, Adam Voges 3-0-19-0, Michael Hussey 3-0-26-0.
Result: Australia wins by 3 runs.
Series: Australia leads 3-2 in seven-match series.
Toss: won by Australia.
Umpires: Asoka de Silva, Sri Lanka, and S.K. Tarapore, India.
TV Umpire: Sanjay Hazare, India. Match Referee: Chris Broad, England.
