A deserving eight-wicket victory over Australia in Friday night's second KFC Twenty20 International has provided India with a much-needed confidence boost ahead of the Commonwealth Bank Series.
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Set just 132 to win before a crowd of 62,276 on a balmy Melbourne evening, the tourists scampered to the line with two balls to spare to square the two-match series one-all and, in the process, inflict Australia's third-only defeat from 15 T20Is in Australia.
A succession of run outs cost the Aussies dearly after skipper George Bailey won the toss and elected to bat.
Ravi Jadeja was named man of the match for his part in two of the run outs.
Displaying an appetite for the chase, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag made light of a fiery opening spell from Brett Lee with a 43-run stand that set the tone for the Indians.
After Sehwag (23 from 16) holed out to Shaun Marsh at cover in Brad Hogg's first over, the seventh of the innings, Virat Kohli (31 from 24) combined with Gambhir for a 54-run second-wicket partnership that took the tourists to the brink.
Gambhir and skipper MS Dhoni (21 not out) made the run to the line appear more difficult than it should have been by playing out seven dot balls before a Gambhir drive beat the infield to secure the win.
Earlier the Aussies were dismissed with two balls to spare for just 131 after appearing on target to register at least 30-40 more.
Four batsmen - Bailey, Aaron Finch, game one's man-of-the-match Matthew Wade and Xavier Doherty - fell to dynamite returns from the outfield.
In a couple of instances the damage was self-inflicted but for the most part the Indian fielding was exemplary.
Finch, one of three inclusions for this match, and David Warner helped themselves to 18 runs from the first two overs before India struck back hard in the third bowled by Praveen Kumar.
Before he'd had the chance to switch-hit the spinners, Warner hoisted Kumar's opening delivery high and wide to square leg where Gambhir was waiting to accept the catch a metre inside the rope.
Three balls later, the luckless Shaun Marsh edged to first slip where Sehwag fumbled but somehow managed to flick the ball up for skipper Dhoni to complete the catch.
That brought David Hussey to the crease to partner his Victorian team-mate Finch in a stand that carried the hosts from a faltering 2-20 to 49 in the seventh over when Finch was run out by a bullet-like return from Ravindra Jadeja.
The stocky opener's quickfire 36 included six powerful boundaries.
Two overs on, there was a second run out when Bailey, on three, was sent back by Hussey and stranded by another blazing return from Jadeja, this time to the bowler's end.
Hussey and Wade, who was shuffled down the order to accommodate Finch, advanced the score at seven-an-over pace from 4-69 at the halfway mark to 91 after 13.
The platform had been set for a big finish, but Hussey was unable to stay the distance, offering a tame return catch to the ubiquitous Jadeja from the third delivery of the 14th over.
From here, the Aussies badly lost their way.
They stuttered to 6-119 with 14 deliveries remaining when Mitch Marsh was stumped by Dhoni off Rahul Sharma for a run-a-ball 13, and were seven-down for the addition of just two runs when a brilliant direct hit found Wade short of his ground.
From there, McKay (zero), Brad Hogg (four) and Xavier Doherty (zero) all fell cheaply in the last-minute scramble for runs.
Crushed four-nil in the recent Test series, the Indians will be entitled to feel far more positive about their prospects in the triangular one-day series with Australia and Sri Lanka starting in Melbourne on Sunday.
