Starc's 6-43, the sixth-best return by an Australian, was the difference as his team overcame a late stumble to pass India's total of 8-267 with four wickets and one over in hand, in front of a crowd of 34,253 at the MCG.

Aaron Finch (96) was the only Australian to reach a half-century, but brisk cameos from David Warner (24 off 22 balls), Shane Watson (41 off 39) and Steve Smith (47 off 52) were valuable in the total of 6-269.

While Starc's haul has meant he has claimed 10 wickets in his past two matches, while deputising for injured fellow left-armer Mitch Johnson, much of the attention surrounding the result is likely to shift on to whether Bailey is punished for Australia taking 23 minutes more than they permissible to bowl their 50 overs.

Bailey was fined for Australia's poor over-rate in the season-opening match against South Africa in Perth, and put on notice than any transgressions within a year would trigger a ban. Match referee Andy Pycroft was left to decide whether there were any mitigating circumstances for Australia's tardiness. If not, Bailey would be banned for his home one-dayer at Blundstone Arena, which would likely result in Steve Smith leading the one-day team for the first time.

A ban for Bailey could perversely aid Australia's World Cup campaign because it would clear his slate and mean he would need to be twice punished for tardy over-rates to be suspended, rather than once.

Man of the match Starc said there was little discussion among the players about over-rates during their bowling innings, on the basis it was "[more] important to win the game . . . that we knew what we wanted to bowl and the field we wanted to set."

"I guess we were aware of it two nights ago [in Sydney against England] and were really good with our over-rate, and obviously - as far as I know - we've overstepped the line time-wise tonight," he said. "I think it [top priority] comes back to winning those games. Sometimes you take a bit more time to make sure you've got the right field or the right plan, but it might've cost us this time."

If Bailey is to be banned, and the rest of the Australian players fined, for the slow over-rate it will be announced by the Dubai-based International Cricket Council.

Starc removed Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan in the first over of the match and then claimed five wickets when recalled for the batting powerplay and to bowl at the death, including those of key batsmen Rohit Sharma (138) and Suresh Raina (51) to fill the void left by Johnson, who is recuperating from a minor hamstring injury.

"We all know our roles really well. Whenever Mitch (Johnson) is around you know he's going to be bowling fast and very aggressively. I think we're all trying to pick up the slack. When he does come back in the side it's going to be great as well, but in the meantime it's nice to take wickets, to try and bowl fast and do my role for the team," he said.

Asked whether it sat comfortably with him to be Australia's key strike bowler in the absence of Johnson, Starc replied: "Oh yeah - you can't say no."

"Obviously Mitch is going to come back at some point, then obviously roles might change. Some guys might miss out, some guys might come in. In the meantime, it's game by game and knowing our roles. In the past two games I think we've done that really well," he said.

"I'm happy with the run at the moment. I can't complain at all."

Commended on his death bowling, the 24-year-old, whose Test performances have been questioned, reiterated he was "really confident with my white-ball game".

India captain M.S. Dhoni lamented that Australia was able to reach the 40th over for the loss of only two wickets, with only Shane Watson falling between the 10th and 40th overs.

"We were not able to take the number of wickets that was crucial [to hindering Australia's chase], because we didn't have a score that was a par-plus score. It was something that could have been defended, but it meant we had to get off to a good start," he said.

Dhoni commended his bowlers, particularly the pacemen exploiting reverse swing, for taking 4-32 and bowling accurately thereafter to leave Brad Haddin and James Faulkner needing 15 runs from the last two overs. Three boundaries from the Australians meant the home team only needed one of those overs.

"I felt in the last 10-12 overs we bowled really well. That's something we'll have to do more often than not on wickets like these."

Dhoni played down a confrontation between David Warner and Rohit that occurred in the 23rd over of the first innings from a seemingly innocuous incident, with Rohit taking an overthrow from a errant Warner throw. After Warner approached Rohit, triggering the confrontation, umpires John Ward and Kumar Dharmasena stepped in to separate the players.

"He [Rohit] didn't react inside the dressing room so I think he was fine. I didn't even bother to ask what really happened," Dhoni said. "It was an argument between two grown men. I hope it was sorted out in the middle."

Starc said he was "fielding on the boundary, so I've not a clue what was said or what happened".