A supreme display of fast bowling from Jason Gillespie allowed Australia to clear another dangerous hurdle at the World Cup without breaking into a sweat, crushing India by nine wickets to guarantee itself a place in the Super Sixes.

India was rolled for 125 in the 42nd over before ruthless opening batsmen Adam Gilchrist (48) and Matthew Hayden (45no) racked up a quickfire century stand to ensure Australia's victory in just 22.2 overs.

Captain Ricky Ponting finished unbeaten on 21, cutting Harbhajan Singh to the fence through cover for the winning runs.

Having rolled Pakistan by 82 runs in its opening match, and with games against minnows Namibia and Holland - plus Zimbabwe and England - to come, Australia seems certain to progress to the next round as the leading team from Pool A.

India won the toss and batted but quickly lost its way.

Gillespie took 3-13 from 10 overs in the most economical 10-over spell in World Cup history.

Even better, his victims included Sachin Tendulkar for 36, the pint-sized player Australian feared most and the only Indian batsman to offer any resistance.

With India already on the brink at 5-78 in the 28th over, Tendulkar walked in front of his stumps attempting to work Gillespie down to fine leg.

The ball cut back and kept low and umpire Dave Shepherd answered Australia's bellowing appeal by raising his finger.

India remained capable of reaching a respectable total while Tendulkar was still at the crease but with him gone, Australia had taken a vice-like grip.

Ponting sprinted to Gillespie, hugging him and lifting him off the ground as the rest of the Australians rushed in.

Brett Lee (3-36) had been given the new ball alongside Glenn McGrath in preference to Gillespie in the hope of ripping through India's top order on an overcast morning with a lively pitch juiced up by overnight rain. The plan worked a treat.

A steady fall of wickets slowed the Indians to a crawl as they lost 3-5 in eight overs, prompting Australians in the crowd holding plastic kangaroos to chant: "Boring, Boring, India."

Lee, extracting significant outswing and reaching a top speed of 153kph, started the rot when unconvincing Indian captain Saurav Ganguly (nine) slashed at a wide ball outside off stump to give wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist a regulation catch.

The next seven wickets fell for 58 runs before late slogging from Harbhajan (28) pushed India's total into three figures.

Virender Sehwag (4) flayed at a wide delivery from Lee for another catch to Gilchrist.

It would have been called a wide if Sehwag failed to make contact. Lee was bowling sharply and accurately with genuine outswing but ironically his first two wickets had come from two of his worst, most wayward balls.

Lee was unlucky, too. A thick outside edge from Tendulkar landed out of the reach of Australia's desperate fielders, while another snick from Rahul Dravid was dropped by Damien Martyn at first slip.

Lee was replaced after an opening burst of 2-17 from six overs. Gillespie entered the fray and enjoyed immediate success, bowling Dravid when the painstakingly slow Indian batsman chopped a short ball onto his stumps. Dravid made one runs from 23 balls.

Mohammad Kaif was Gillespie's second victim, pulling a short ball to Andrew Symonds at deep square leg. Kaif used up 16 balls for one run. Symonds ran forward, hesitated, then dived forward to take the ball just above the turf. It was lucky Kaif's top edge didn't fly to third man, where McGrath was bending down tieing his shoelaces.

Lee's third victim was tall left-hander Dinesh Mongia, who gave Symonds a diving, initially-fumbled catch at cover.

Allrounder Brad Hogg (1-16), part-time spinner Darren Lehmann (1-7) and miserly opening bowler McGrath (1-23) shared the rest of the wickets, with Lehmann executing a run out to put the Indian innings out of its misery.

Indian spinners Harbhajan and Kumble were powerless against the onslaught from Gilchrist, Hayden and Ponting, taking 0-49 and 1-24 from 7.2 and seven overs respectively. Kumble looked far more dangerous.

Australia's next game is against the Dutch part-timers at Potchefstroom on Thursday.

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