The end then was inevitable but Australia dragged it long, giving themselves an outside chance by suffocating India to get Gautam Gambhir, Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh. But then Dhoni and Rohit, taking advantage of Ponting having used his four main bowlers, waited for the part-time bowlers to come on before finishing the task.

Scoreboard

Australia: A Gilchrist lbw Sreesanth 0, M Hayden c Dhoni b Ishant 25, R Ponting c Tendulkar b Ishant 9, M Clarke c Rohit b Pathan 11, A Symonds c Dhoni b Ishant 14, M Hussey not out 65; B Haddin st Dhoni b Harbhajan 5, B Lee c Dhoni b Pathan 10, M Johnson c Uthappa b Sreesanth 3, N Bracken c Tendulkar b Sreesanth 1, S Clark c Dhoni b Ishant 0; Extras (1b,3lb,9w,3nb) 16

Total (all out, 43.1 overs) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-37, 3-47, 4-64, 5-75, 6-92, 7-145, 8-151, 9-155.

Bowling: Sreesanth 9-0-31-3, Sharma 9.1-1-38-4, Pathan 8-0-26-2, Harbhajan 8-2-19-1, Sehwag 5-0-24-0, Yuvraj 2-0-11-0, Tendulkar 2-0-6-0.

India: V Sehwag lbw Bracken 11, S Tendulkar c Lee b Johnson 44, I Pathan lbw Johnson 18 G Gambhir c Clarke b Lee 21, Y Singh c Hussey b Clark 3, R Sharma not out 39, MS Dhoni not out 17; Extras (2lb,5w) 7; Total (for 5 wkts, 45.5 overs) 160

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-54, 3-89, 4-96, 5-102

Bowling: Lee 9-0-42-1, Bracken 10-0-35-1, Clark 10-1-26-1, Johnson 10-1-24-2, Clarke 4-0-12-0, Symonds 2.5-0-19-0

Next match: Tuesday vs Lanka