Chandigarh, Punjab:  October 8, 2007 -  India has proved its mettle by defeating Australia by eight runs in an exciting match played her on Monday in the fourth limited-overs international, Australia still leads in the series to 2-1.

Australia was cruising along comfortably at 268 for five in the 46th over. It needed 22 runs in the last two overs, but the Indian bowlers kept Brett Lee and James Hopes in check to turn the tables in their favor.

The victory would boost the morale of the Indian team, the winners of the recent Twenty20 championship in South Africa, to carry forward the fight in the remaining three matches in the series.

Aggressive half-centuries by Matthew Hayden (92) and Symonds had put Australia to reach near a victory target of 292 set by Indians but the finishing touch changed the game and clinched the victory from Australia. (IR Summary).

The dismissal of Hayden and Symonds took the sting out of the Australian run chase to the delight of more than 25,000 in this northern Indian city.

India's pace bowler Rudra Pratap Singh and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh captured two wickets each for 66 and 43 runs respectively.

Earlier, some lusty hitting by skipper Mahendra Dhoni (50 not out) and Robin Uthappa (30 not out) helped India score 291 for four.

Dhoni and Uthappa overshadowed India's star batsman Sachin Tendulkar who scored 79 runs off 117 deliveries. He struggled for the most part of his innings with poor timing and was lucky to survive some close calls.
The last 10 overs yielded 89 runs for India.