Brett Lee's 5-38 has lifted Australia to a tense, hard-fought 18-run win against India and a berth in Sunday's DLF Cup final against the West Indies in Kuala Lumpur.
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Lee and Stuart Clark shared the first four wickets before Dinesh Mongia, with a fine, unbeaten 63 and with strong support from Suresh Raina (26) and Mahendra Dhoni (23), led a brave fightback until India folded for 195 off 43.5 overs in reply to Australia's 213 off 48.1 overs.
Lee removed openers Sachin Tendulkar (4) and Virender Sehwag (10) in the first five overs, and Clark rebounded from his horrific 0-87 off seven overs against the West Indies four days previously to dismiss Mohammad Kaif (21) and Rahul Dravid (7) and leave India reeling at 4-50 after 13 overs.
Tendulkar, on four, was given out caught off his right shoulder by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin after trying to hook Glenn McGrath's second ball - the eighth of the innings - but English umpire Mark Benson realised his mistake and rightly recalled India's champion batsman.
India was 5-96 in the 25th over when Raina chopped a Brad Hogg wrong 'un onto his stumps and 6-158 in the 37th over when Dhoni holed out to Damien Martyn at deep cover off Lee (who had overstepped the popping crease).
Then Hogg pinned Ajit Agarkar (9) lbw, off-spinner Andrew Symonds had Harbhajan Singh (0) caught by Haddin and Lee ended the innings by having Rudra Singh (4) well caught by Mike Hussey at backward point and Munaf Patel (1) taken brilliantly by a diving Symonds at extra cover.
Australia's innings was bolstered by Matthew Hayden's vigorous half-century and invaluable late aggression by Haddin and Hogg.
Haddin, with 46 (four sixes, one four) off 63 balls, and Hogg (38) shared a bold seventh-wicket stand of 77 in 13 overs to revive the innings from 6-117 in the 32nd over after Hussey (13) had edged off-spinner Harbhajan to Dravid at slip.
In humid, overcast conditions, batting was not easy on a pitch with a dry, crusty surface that encouraged the bowlers with variable bounce and considerable sideways movement off the seam.
But two careless run outs ruined the top half of Australia's innings as Hayden, who cracked nine fours in his 66-ball 54, and Martyn (19) left in the 22nd and 25th overs for the total to slip from 2-87 to 4-97.
Symonds (2) was lbw to left-arm spinner Mongia the ball after Martyn's dismissal, and Haddin, on two, should have been run out in the next over, but Harbhajan dropped the ball just before hitting the stumps with his left hand.
Earlier, Simon Katich (9) square drove Agarkar to point where Raina dived full length to his left to take a brilliant two-handed catch, and Ricky Ponting (4), who had won the toss, flicked Munaf straight and high to Agarkar at fine leg.
Haddin's enterprising stay ended when he skied a catch off left-arm paceman Rudra in the 45th over, and Hogg was run out two overs later after Lee's straight drive ricocheted off Rudra's hand onto the stumps.
