Australia defended its 214 grimly to salvage a place in the Malaysian tri-series final in an 18-run victory over India at Kinrara Oval.

Captain Ricky Ponting was again placed under scrutiny for speaking too forcefully to umpires

Brett Lee bowled with hostility and direction for 5-38, his sixth five wicket haul in limited overs matches for Australia, Stuart Clark made a successful recovery from the horrors of 0-87 against West Indies, while Brad Hogg (2-48) also starred with the ball to thwart a sturdy 63 by Dinesh Mongia with 6.1 to spare.

Ponting, meanwhile, will await the match officials' meeting after sparring verbally with umpire Mark Benson over his reversal of a decision to give out Sachin Tendulkar in the second over of India's pursuit.

He is not far from being banned after two fines in four months for dissent.

"The umpire made his decision, he then reversed it and I think he actually got it right in the end, so that's where it sits," Ponting said of the incident.

"I can't actually talk much about umpires' decisions anyway, but he explained the reason why and we just got on with it from there, I wasn't that happy at the time but that was the decision.

"He called me in to explain why he changed his decision, I didn't see Sachin called back because I was in the middle of the huddle with the guys."

Fielding a planned 11 that lacked the two form players of the tour to date in Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, Australia sank from 2-87 to 6-117 in the afternoon before Brad Haddin (46, four sixes) and Hogg (38) propped up the innings with a 77-run stand.

On a pitch dusting up after being used in four of the event's six games, Indian tweaker Harbhajan Singh was indirectly responsible for the run outs and also defeated Mike Hussey for handsome figures of 1-24 in 10 suffocating overs.

When India chased, Glenn McGrath's first ball to Tendulkar brought a minor sensation when English umpire Benson gave him out caught behind for a clear deflection from the shoulder.

The combination of Tendulkar's stunned response and howls of derision in the crowd swayed Benson into reversing his decision before the batsman had reached the boundary.

However arguments about the reversal were made moot next over, Lee coaxing Tendulkar into an unsteady back foot drive to point.

Virender Sehwag's technical frailties were laid bare by Lee's off-cutter, which found a generous gap between bat and pad.

Clark (2-36) took a one-hand caught and bowled to get rid of Mohammad Kaif then had Rahul Dravid lbw, and Hogg's deception of Suresh Raina and Ajit Agarkar allowed Lee the chance to wrap up the innings for 195.

Earlier, India left out young quick S Sreesanth after his slippery performance against West Indies, but Agarkar (2-44), RP Singh (2-43) and Munaf Patel (1-32) did quite well without him after Ponting had won Australia's fourth straight coin toss.

Matthew Hayden's innings was fluent, but India's pressure forced out Simon Katich and Ponting, and Hayden was run out when he set off for an optimistic single on 54.

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