A dazzling on-field display of fireworks during the break between the innings captivated the audience. Before that, Matthew Wade blazed away with strokes of fire and intent.
And after the interval, Brett Lee sent down a great ball of fire — a fast and mean outswinger — to find the edge of Virender Sehwag's bat.
George Bailey's men did not loosen their stranglehold on the contest subsequently. Australia coasted home by 31 runs on Wednesday in the first KFC twenty20 international at a packed Olympic Park Stadium to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Replying to Australia's 171 for four — the host was inserted — India finished at 140 for six. The second game will be played in Melbourne on Friday.
Neither the induction of youth nor the sluggish nature of the pitch made a difference to the Indian fortunes.
Worse, apart from a brave unbeaten 48 from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni there was hardly any fight; the Indian batting capitulated.
A large crowd of 59,659 included a sizeable number of Indian supporters. They went back a disappointed lot.
Hunting as a pack
The Aussies hunted as a pack on the field — the side bristled with aggression and purpose. Pressure was created from both the ends, the fielders attacked the ball and the catching in the deep was sure.
Ageing warhorse Lee operated zestfully and the 40-year-old left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg bowled beautifully; the right-handers struggled to pick the one spinning and zipping into them. Dhoni is right — age is only a number.
Virat Kohli perished to a pull off Hogg, Rohit Sharma was done in by a delivery that spun sharply into him by David Hussey and Suresh Raina's attempted slog off paceman Daniel Christian only resulted in his stumps being rearranged.
Hussey was surprisingly effective with his off-spinners — Gautam Gambhir was picked up at covers off his bowling — while left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty was steady.
Spirit of adventure
Adjudged ‘Man-of-the-Match', wicket-keeper batsman Wade was the cynosure during his 43-ball 72. His batsmanship has the spirit of adventure.
The explosive left-hander reminds one of Sanath Jayasuriya with his fierce short-arm jabs.
The opener also displayed the ability to hit the ball pleasingly straight with an easy swing of the willow. Wade also used his feet to convert length.
Ravindra Jadeja suffered as Wade waded into his bowling. When there was a hint of flight from Jadeja, the ball disappeared over the wide long-on fence. And when a lacklustre Praveen Kumar erred in length, Wade responded with a scorching square-cut.
There has been plenty of debate here over the exclusion of Brad Haddin and the inclusion of Wade not just for the two Twenty20 games but also Australia's first three ODIs in the triangular series.
Wade's performance here is bound to put greater pressure on the beleaguered Haddin. He walked back to a rousing ovation after being castled by a quicker ball delivered from round-the-wicket from Raina bowling off-spin.
Explosive start
Earlier, David Warner (25) began like a run-away train. The explosive opener was also innovative — a stunning switch-hit off Ravichandran Ashwin sailed over the extra cover fence.
Soon the off-spinner was ruthlessly dismissed over the straight-field.
Just when Warner appeared set to cause further damage, he miscued a fuller length ball from Vinay Kumar.
The medium-pacer varied his speed and mixed his length capably.
In the final stretch of the innings, the languid David Hussey (42) delivered a few weighty hits with a lofted blow over the long-off rope off Rahul Sharma standing out.
Rahul eventually sent back Hussey in the final over with a delivery that spun just a shade.
The leg-spinner with a high-arm action relies on bounce and bowls stump-to-stump.
Painful blow
He took a painful blow on his fingers when the left-handed Travis Brit struck one back with brutal force — Rahul was forced to leave the field — but returned to bowl with a fair measure of composure and accuracy.
But this was a night when the Indian bowling lacked consistency; there were a few errors on the field as well.
A steady drizzle when the Indians bowled — proceedings had to be briefly interrupted — did not help matters either. The spinners had difficulty gripping the ball.
Scorecard
Australia: D. Warner c Raina b Vinay 25 (14b, 1x4, 2x6), M. Wade b Raina 72 (43b, 5x4, 3x6), T. Birt c Raina b Ashwin 17 (21b, 1x4, 1x6), D. Hussey b Rahul 42 (30b, 1x4, 3x6), G. Bailey (not out) 12 (11b, 1x4), M. Marsh (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 171.
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Warner), 2-79 (Birt), 3-135 (Wade), 4-170 (Hussey).
India bowling: Ashwin 4-0-34-1, Praveen 3-0-34-0, Vinay 4-0-28-1, Raina 3-0-22-1, Rahul 3.4-0-27-1, Rohit 0.2-0-2-0, Jadeja 2-0-23-0.
India: G. Gambhir c Marsh b Hussey 20 (14b, 3x4), V. Sehwag c Hussey b Lee 4 (3b, 1x4), V. Kohli c Warner b Hogg 22 (21b, 1x6), S. Raina b Christian 14 (15b, 1x4), Rohit b Hussey 0 (1b), M.S. Dhoni (not out) 48 (43b, 1x4, 3x6), R. Jadeja c Warner b Christian 7 (8b, 1x4), R. Ashwin (not out) 15 (16b, 1x4); Extras (lb-3, w-6, nb-1): 10; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 140.
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Sehwag), 2-47 (Gambhir), 3-53 (Kohli), 4-53 (Rohit), 5-72 (Raina), 6-81 (Jadeja).
Australia bowling: Lee 4-0-36-1, Doherty 4-0-23-0, Faulkner 2-0-18-0, Christian 4-0-35-2, Hussey 2-0-4-2, Hogg 4-0-21-1.
