India defeated Australia by eight runs in a thrilling finish yesterday in the fourth limited-overs international in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.
Rudra Pratap Singh dismissed Andrew Symonds (75) and Brad Hogg (0) with consecutive deliveries in the 47th over as India fought back to reduce the Australian lead in the series to 2-1.
Aggressive half-centuries by Matthew Hayden (92) and Symonds had put Australia on course to reaching a victory target of 292.
Left-handed opener Hayden severely punished the Indian bowlers, hitting 11 boundaries and two sixes in his knock.
The dismissal of Hayden and Symonds took the sting out of the Australian run chase to the delight of a crowd of more than 25,000.
Indian pace bowler Rudra Pratap Singh and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh captured two wickets each.
Earlier, some lusty hitting by skipper Mahendra Dhoni (50 not out) and Robin Uthappa (30 not out) helped India score 291 for four.
The final 10 overs yielded 89 runs for India as their batting blossomed in the latter half of the innings after openers Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar had a torrid first hour.
Pace bowlers Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken gave them a severe testing on a wicket of uneven bounce.
Tendulkar was lucky to survive two close leg before wicket shouts and a caught behind appeal by the Australians.
He went on to score 79 before he was run out by a direct hit from Lee from fine leg.
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