A 22-year wait to end a winless streak against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to fruition on Sunday night as India re-surged to the top of the tri-series table.

A command performance with the ball, spearheaded by the 19-year-old Ishant Sharma, set up what in the end was a convincing five-wicket victory, though in chasing Australia's modest 159, the Indians made heavy weather as much through their own suddenly diffident ways as the probing accuracy of the home side's four-pronged pace attack.

It required the cool head of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to carry the youthful exuberance of Rohit Sharma with him, the pair adding 58 priceless runs for the unseparated sixth wicket to steer India to 160 for five, with 25 deliveries to spare.

Despite the first-over dismissal of Adam Gilchrist, adjudged leg before to S Sreesanth by Rudi Koertzen despite inside-edging on to his pads, there was little evidence of the carnage to follow as Matthew Hayden took it upon himself to dismantle the Ishant threat. The Aussies have identified the gangling Delhi pacer as the most dangerous of India's bowlers; in a bid to throw him off track, Hayden took his chances, throwing his bat at the slightest indiscretion in line and picking Ishant off for three fours in the paceman's second over.

Throughout this tour, Ishant has impressed with his ability to stare adversity in the face and come away smelling of roses. A quick word from his captain — who led quite brilliantly and had an outstanding day behind the stumps too — reminding him of the need to stick to his plans worked wonders as Ishant dramatically turned things around.

Overdrive

It wasn't merely his pace — ranging in the mid 140s and at one stage even touching 149.4 kmph — that caught the eye. Once he got rid of Hayden in his third over, Ishant went into overdrive; his control was impeccable, and his dominance of Ricky Ponting was all too obvious.

The Australian captain appeared to have done his side a great turn by again winning the toss; his dismissal, unable to cope with Ishant's extra bounce to be caught at slip for the third time in the competition left the door open for man of the match Ishant, and the rest of the Indian bowling, to nibble away at the middle-order.

Ishant was at the forefront, but Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan weren't far behind. The damage inflicted by the quicker bowlers on a slowish track negating stroke-making once the ball got soft allowed Harbhajan Singh to bowl with confidence. The offie turned in his best spell of the tour, teasing the batsmen with lovely flight and setting up a brilliant stumping of Brad Haddin by his captain with a faster one fired down the leg-side.

But for Mike Hussey's workmanlike unbeaten half-century and his 53 for the seventh wicket with Brett Lee, Australia would have been embarrassed even more. 159 wasn't a total either likely or expected to trouble the visitors; that India finally laboured past the winning post is testimony to the quality of the Aussie attack.

Brilliant best

Once again, Lee was at his brilliant best. His final figures do him no justice at all. Fast and furious, he extracted appreciable bounce with new ball as well as old, though in one memorable over, Sachin Tendulkar put him firmly in his place with two of the most majestic straight drives seen at this venue.

During Tendulkar's mature presence, India were in safe hands. Dhoni has some explaining to do behind the rationale of thrusting Pathan to number three at Virender Sehwag's fall — erroneously adjudged leg before to Nathan Bracken by Simon Taufel — particularly with Gautam Gambhir having made a hundred in the previous game. Between them, Pathan and Gambhir hogged the strike enough to throw Tendulkar off gear. It came as no surprise that the little man, in his 400th one-day innings, finally lost patience and holed out to mid-off; when Yuvraj Singh threw his hand away soon after following another unconvincing brief stint, it was pressure time, with the bonus point no longer the goal.

Nervily, and then with growing assurance, Rohit and Dhoni took India to the throes of safety. Ponting threw everything at them, but the duo refused to blink. Rohit eventually was emboldened enough to hasten the finish with a couple of pleasing strokes as four crucial points were garnered. India lead with eight points to Australia's seven. Sri Lanka, India's next foes in Canberra on Tuesday, bring up the rear with two.


SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA

Gilchrist lbw Sreesanth 0
(3b)
Hayden c Dhoni b Ishant 25
(21b, 5x4)
Ponting c Tendulkar b Ishant 9
(15b)
Clarke c Rohit b Pathan 11
(27b, 1x4)
Symonds c Dhoni b Ishant 14
(24b, 1x4)
Hussey (not out) 65
(88b, 4x4)
Haddin st Dhoni b Harbhajan 5
(31b)
Lee c Dhoni b Pathan 10
(35b)
Johnson c Uthappa b Sreesanth 3
(8b)
Bracken c Tendulkar b Sreesanth 1
(9b)
Clark c Dhoni b Ishant 0
(1b)
Extras (B-1, LB-3, W-9, NB-3) 16
Total (all out, 43.1 overs) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Gilchrist), 2-37 (Hayden), 3-47 (Ponting), 4-64 (Clarke), 5-75 (Symonds), 6-92 (Haddin), 7-145 (Lee), 8-151 (Johnson), 9-155 (Bracken).
Bowling: Sreesanth 9-0-31-3 (w-2), Ishant Sharma 9.1-1-38-4 (w-2, nb-3), Irfan Pathan 8-0-26-2 (w-2), Harbhajan Singh 8-2-19-1 (w-3), Virender Sehwag 5-0-24-0, Yuvraj 2-0-11-0, Sachin Tendulkar 2-0-6-0. 
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 37/1; 10: 53/3; 15: 70/4; 20: 79/5; 25: 91/5; 30: 101/6; 35: 128/6; 40: 150/7; end of innings: 159 all out in 43.1 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 53/3; Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 17/1; Power Play 3 (three men out): 16-20 overs: 9/1.

INDIA

Sehwag lbw Bracken 11
(19b, 2x4)
Tendulkar c Lee b Johnson 44
(54b, 3x4)
Pathan lbw Johnson 18
(30b, 1x4)
Gambhir c Clarke b Lee 21
(43b, 2x4)
Yuvraj c Hussey b Clark 3
(14b)
Rohit (not out) 39
(61b, 2x4)
Dhoni (not out) 17
(54b)
Extras (LB-2, W-5) 7
Total (for 5 wkts, 45.5 overs) 160
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Sehwag), 2-54 (Pathan), 3-89 (Gambhir), 4-96 (Tendulkar), 5-102 (Yuvraj).
Bowling: Lee 9-0-42-1 (w-2), Bracken 10-0-35-1 (w-1), Stuart Clark 10-1-26-1, Mitchell Johnson 10-1-24 -2 (w-1), Michael Clarke 4-0-12-0, Andrew Symonds 2.5-0-19-0 (w-1).
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 30/1; 10: 51/1; 15: 65/2; 20: 82/2; 25: 96/3; 30: 102/5; 35: 115/5; 40: 134/5; 45: 156/5; end of innings: 160/5 in 45.5 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 51/1; Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 14/1; Power Play 3 (three men out): 46-50 overs: 4/0.