First Tendulkar battered a brilliant innings of 141 off just 127 balls to set Australia a daunting target of 308 in the quarter-final in Dhaka.

And he followed that with a match-clinching peformance with the ball, taking four wickets for 38 with his leg spin as Australia collapsed to 263 all out with 11 balls to spare.

His last act of a stunning day was a formality as he picked up one of the most straightforward man of the match awards in limited-overs history.

Ton-up Tendulkar

Tendulkar sprinted to his 19th one-day hundred off just 94 balls, and ultimately smashed 13 fours and three sixes to send a 40,000 crowd wild.

The 25-year-old bailed out his side after the Australians had made some early in-roads and had India struggling at eight for two.

Tendulkar shared in partnerships of 140 for the third wicket with Rahul Dravid (48) and 132 with vice-captain Ajay Jadeja (71).

Early success: Fleming dismisses Azarhuddin

He was eventually run out for 141, when Michael Kasprowicz produced a superb throw from the cover boundary.

Steve Waugh's side, who only flew into Bangladesh on Tuesday following their victory in Pakistan, made the perfect start, with Kasprowicz dismissing Saurav Ganguly and Damien Fleming trapping skipper Mohammed Azharuddin - in his 300th one-day match - for lbw for nought.

But Tendulkar then took complete control and the Australians simply had no answer to his magnificent off-drives.

As the innings came to an end India faltered somewhat and Australia picked up a flurry of wickets in the final five overs before India closed on 307 for eight.

Spin's the thing for Sachin

Australia's batsmen made a positive start in reply, with openers Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh putting on 51 in nine overs.

Tendulkar catches Steve Waugh off his own bowling

After Gilchrist was dismissed for 25, Mark Waugh (74) and Ricky Ponting (41) put India on the back foot with a partnership of 94 in 17 overs.

At that stage Australia were keeping in touch with the required run-rate and were handily placed at 145-1 in the 26th over.

But Tendulkar was not to be denied and his vital wickets precipitated an alarming collapse in the Australian middle order.

He picked up the prize scalps of Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan as Australia were dismissed for 263.

India take on the winners of Thursday's quarter-final between Pakistan and the West Indies in Saturday's semi-final of the knock-out tournament featuring the nine Test-playing nations.

Scorecards:

India
S Ganguly c Gilchrist b Kasprowicz 1
S Tendulkar run out 141
M Azharuudin lbw b Fleming 0
R Dravid run out 48
A Jadeja run out 71
R Singh c Glichrist b Kasprowicz 3
A Agarkar b Kasprowicz 10
S Joshi run out 3
J Srinath not out 5
N Mongia not out 0
Extras (lb-8 w-10 nb-7) 25
Total (for eight, 50 overs) 307

Fall of wickets: 1-7 2-8 3-148 4-280 5-286 6-292 7-301 8-305.

Bowling: D Fleming 10-1-45-1, M Kasprowicz 9-0-71-3, B Julian 10-0-39-0, S Waugh 3-0-23-0, B Young 8-0-64-0, M Waugh 6-0-27-0, D Lehmann 4-0-30-0

Australia:
A Gilchrist b Srinath 25
M Waugh c Mongia b Joshi 74
R Ponting b Joshi 41
B Julian c Dravid b Srinath 20
D Lehmann lbw b Agarkar 27
S Waugh c and b Tendulkar 7
M Bevan b Tendulkar 8
D Martyn c Jadeja b Tendulkar 24
B Young c Dravid b Tendulkar 18
M Kasprowicz run out 7
D Fleming not out 2
Extras: (lb3, w5, nb2) 10
Total (all out, 48.1 overs) 263

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-145, 3-167, 4-172, 5-194, 6-210, 7-217, 8-247, 9-257