A crowd-thrilling century by home-town hero Matthew Hayden was not enough to see Australia triumph over India in the one-day tri-series at the Gabba.

Needing a record run-chase to surpass the tourists' imposing 4-303, Australia (284) fell 20 runs short in spite of Hayden belting a cherished one-day ton.

The big Queenslander smacked 109 from 107 balls to put the Aussies in the box seat in front of a capacity 35,052 Brisbane crowd.

At the two-thirds mark of the innings, the home side was well placed at 4-204, needing 100 from as many balls, but were harpooned by the loss of Hayden and Michael Clarke (42 from 45).

Young left-arm quick Irfan Pathan (3-64), who took the bowling honours with Laxmipathy Balaji (4-48), captured both to edges behind after an enterprising 63-run stand.

Despite a steady hand from Michael Bevan (41), India then worked its way through the tail to register only a second win in its last 10 matches against the world champions.

The tense 19-run victory avenged the tourists' 18-run defeat in Melbourne last weekend and put them one win away from Australia at the top of the Tri-Series.

A bonus-point win over the struggling Zimbabweans in their next match at the Gabba on Tuesday will see Sourav Ganguly's men (12) tied with Australia (18) after four matches each.

Earlier, a breakthrough century by man-of-the-match VVS Laxman, his first limited-overs ton on foreign soil in a 61-match career, steered India to the highest-ever one-day total at the Gabba.

He brought up both milestones in sensational fashion, lofting the last ball of the innings by Ian Harvey over mid-wicket for four.

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