Brisbane, Feb 19: Australia were on top of the ODI tri-series as Ben Hilfenhaus returned to torment India with his career-best 5-33 as the home side pounded the tourists by 110 runs at the Gabba here Sunday.

Hilfenhaus, replacing an indisposed Clint McKay, played his first ODI in more than two years and harassed the Indian team as he did in the Tests as well.

Australia's stand-in skipper Ricky Ponting's ODI future is on shaky ground after he made just seven - his fifth straight single-figure failure - as Australia posted 288 for five.

But Ponting still managed to marshall his troops to a convincing victory by routing India for 178.

Hilfenhaus and Brett Lee (3-49) who ripped through the Indian top-order to effectively kill off the contest at 4-36.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a patient 56 but once he holed out to Hilfenhaus, in the 38th over, a bonus point was in the bag for Australia.

Earlier, Australia smashed 110 runs in the final 10 overs to reach a competitive 288 for five in 50 overs.

Peter Forrest (52) and Mike Hussey (59) struck half-centuries and stitched a 100-run stand for the fourth wicket and laid the foundation of late charge by David Hussey (30 not out) and Dan Christian (30 not out).

Christian (32 off 18 balls) and Hussey (24 off 20 balls) plundered 58 runs from the final five overs, the penultimate over by Vinay Kumar yielding 18 runs.

Left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan picked up three for 61 while pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and part-time spinner Rohit Sharma picked up a wicket each.

Australia made a good start with David Warner (43) and Matthew Wade (45) adding 70 runs for the opening stand by the 13th over.

Warner tamely pushed a leg-stump half volley from Irfan to the lone fielder on the onside inside the ring.

Stand-in captain Ricky Ponting was completely out of sorts and had to wait for 13 deliveries before getting his first run and fell for seven, caught in the deep off the probing line of Zaheer Khan.

There was some drama in the 29th over when Suresh Raina dragged Mike out of his crease in his seventh over and as the batsman missed, Mahendra Singh Dhoni removed the bails.

Team India started celebrating when third umpire ruled the batsman out.

But third umpire Bruce Oxenford had pressed the wrong button and after he corrected his decision Mike was called back by the umpires.

An angry Dhoni had some pointed remarks to make to Bowden, the square leg umpire who had referred the decision to third umpire.

The decision proved costly as Mike, who would have been back in the pavilion for three, went on to score a valuable knock.