Hyderabad, Nov. 5: It was a Sachin Tendulkar special as the batting maestro notched up his 45th ODI hundred on Thursday night at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium but India still ended up agonisingly short of Australia, who edged home by three runs to take a crucial 3-2 lead in the seven-match series. With this, the venue continues to remain a jinx for the Men in Blue who have now lost all their matches played here.

Chasing 351 under lights, the Indians began well with Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag adding 66 for the first wicket before Sehwag (38) went for an extravagant shot to meet his end.

Despite losing Gautam Gambhir (8), Yuvraj Singh (9) and M.S. Dhoni (6) cheaply, Tendulkar gave a lesson on how to pace an innings on a pitch that required patience more than panache.

However, Sachin did essay those trademark cuts, elegant straight drives, paddle sweeps and some purposeful running between the wickets in his 209-minute stay at the wicket.

More than scoring a chanceless 175 off 141 balls (19x4, 4x6) , it was the manner in which they came that warmed the partisan crowd gathered which otherwise had to return to their homes dejected.

During the course of his innings, Sachin got to his second-highest one-day score (his unbeaten 186 against New Zealand in 1999 also at Hyderabad being his best) and the 12th best in the history of one-day cricket. Tendulkar’s enchanting 137-run stand with Suresh Raina (59) for the fifth wicket almost brought the hosts to the doorstep of a famous win but that was not to be.

Once again, it was the indecision over the batting Powerplay that torpedoed the Indians, who lost wickets in a heap when they finally did decide to go for the field restrictions.

Earlier, Australia gave Clint McKay his debut game as skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and batted first. Openers Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh feasted on some listless bowling to race to 100 by the 15th over of the innings.

Watson in particular tore into the the hapless bowling, executing the pull-shot and sweep shot with aplomb. Marsh led a charmed life when Indian skipper M.S. Dhoni dropped him on 29, a miss that was to prove costly.

After being dropped at 90 by Yuvraj Singh, Watson took one chance too many when on 93 he skied a Harbhajan delivery for Ravindra Jadeja to lap up.

But the misery for the Indians had only begun as Ponting scored a breezy 45 to maintain the stranglehold on the hosts. When he fell, Australia had reached 236 in the 39th over.

At the other end, Marsh notched up his maiden one-day hundred (112) before he was caught by Gambhir off Nehra. His run-a-ball knock was studded with eight fours and two sixes. It proved to be a perfect platform for the late-innings onslaught by Michael Hussey (31) and Cameron White (57) that helped their side’s total soar to 350.