4th ODI: India come alive at the death

India snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, beating the Aussies by 8 runs in Chandigarh, reports Subhash Rajta.

India held their nerves in the nail-biting final moments to snatch a dramatic eight-run victory in the fourth cricket one-dayer against Australia and keep themselves afloat in the seven-match series at Chandigarh on Monday.

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The Indian batting line-up came good as they rattled up 291 for four and then stopped the mighty Australians at 283 for seven to reduce the margin to 2-1 at the Sector 16 stadium.

The Australians were cruising along comfortably at 268 for five till the 46th over before two wickets in the span of two balls completely changed the complexion of the game much to the delight of a vociferous home crowd.

Batting first, India owed their total to some lusty hitting by Robin Uthappa (30 runs off 18 balls) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who slammed 50 off just 35 balls. Sachin Tendulkar (79) and Sourav Ganguly (41) provided a solid start to the side.

For the visitors, the in-form Matthew Hayden hit a 92-ball 92 and Andrew Symonds scored 75 but the late order batsmen succumbed to the pressure to give the home team a sensational victory, their first over the Australians since January 2004.

The two team will now travel to Vadodara for the fifth game to be played on Thursday.