A Mahendra Singh Dhoni-inspired India stunned Australia with a thrilling eight-run win in the fourth one-dayer in Chandigarh on Monday, throwing the series wide open. Chasing India’s challenging 291-4, Australia made 283-7 to allow India to pull one back in the seven-match series and reduce the margin to 2-1. The first game was abandoned due to rain.

Australia appeared to be cruising towards a win after Matthew Hayden top-scored with 92 and Andrew Symonds hit 75 but the game turned on its head through some spirited bowling by the Indians at the death. It was India’s first win over Australia in 11 matches, the last coming in Brisbane in January 2004.

Left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh (2-66) changed the complexion of the match in the 47th over when he clean-bowled Symonds and then ran out Brad Hogg on the next ball. Needing 16 off Zaheer Khan’s last over, James Hopes (23 not out) hit a four off the first ball but could manage only three more runs off it in the company of Brett Lee.

Man of the match Dhoni made two brilliant stumpings after making a 35-ball 50 which helped India finish strongly despite a sedate start. “We were not able to chase earlier on in the series so we decided to bat first. Credit should go to Tendulkar and Ganguly for giving us a good start. Our bowlers also bowled very well in the middle overs,” Dhoni said.

“We needed to be aggressive otherwise we could not have come back in the series like this.” Sachin Tendulkar anchored the innings with 79 off 119 balls while adding crucial 91 runs with Sourav Ganguly (41) and 83 with Yuvraj Singh (39). “The Indians played very well, they kept wickets in hand and opened up only at the end,” Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said.

“We were in a comfortable position while chasing but then lost crucial wickets.” Australia started their innings in a blazing fashion, despite losing Adam Gilchrist (18) early once again, thanks to some lusty hittings by Hayden. Hayden, who slammed 11 fours and two sixes in his run-a-ball knock, holed out to Zaheer off left-arm spinner Murali Kartik (1-48) after he had hit the same bowler for a four a ball earlier.

Symonds took Australia close to the target with his 84-ball 75 before being clean-bowled by a searing Rudra Pratap delivery. The match was marred by some debatable umpiring decisions, one of which involved Ponting. The Indians appealed for a stumping after Ponting missed a drive against Irfan Pathan. With the TV umpire taking some time to reach the decision, Ponting got ready to take strike, confident that he was not out.

But Ponting had to walk off once the giant screens beamed the umpire’s verdict, the skipper glaring and muttering all the way back to the pavilion. Tendulkar also appeared to have nicked Lee earlier in the day but umpire Suresh Shastri turned down the appeal. The Australians paid the price for being unusually wayward in the field, giving away 39 extras including 31 wides, which was one less than their worst ever show against Sri Lanka in 2002-03. The next match would be played in Baroda on Thursday.

Australia stand in skipper Adam Gilchrist Saturday said the semifinal loss against India in the World Twenty20 Championship had hurt their pride.

“Any loss hurts your pride. It’s annoying and frustrating,” said Gilchrist after his side went down by 15 runs at Durban.

“It’s disappointing to lose any championship. We’ve experienced it and we’ve learnt from it. We need to analyse it and come back,” he said.

Gilchrist said the Aussies were just about to start their season and would “need to get our skill level up”. They next travel to India for a seven-match ODI series that starts on September 29. They will also be playing the hosts in a one-off Twenty20 game.

The Aussie keeper was of the view that Twenty20 would “play a big part in world cricket” and it would be “interesting to see how the one-off games pan out”.

Asked to pick a winner between India and Pakistan, both of whom beat Australia in this tournament, Gilchrist opted to sit on the fence. “Both Pakistan and India are playing very well, I can’t predict a winner.”

About Yuvraj Singh, Gilchrist said he was playing with “great confidence and without any fear”.

The opener said he thought that captaincy did not drain him in this version.

“It moves quickly, but you need to think on your feet. And you need bits of good fortune in this game a bit more,” he said.

India stunned favourites Australia by 15 runs at Durban on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering final against Pakistan in the Twenty20 world championships.

Yuvraj Singh smashed 70 off 30 balls as India, electing to take first strike at the jam-packed Kingsmead, made a challenging 188-5 and then restricted Australia to 173-7 in a rousing semi-final.

Australia, needing 27 off the last 12 balls, were kept down to five runs in the 19th over bowled by left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh and six runs in Joginder Sharma’s last over.

Sharma, who was hammered for 31 runs in his first two overs, was gambled for the final over by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and came good with two wickets at the end.

Opener Matthew Hayden hit 62 off 47 balls and Andrew Symonds scored a 26-ball 43 during a rollicking third wicket stand of 66 that came off just 37 deliveries.

Australia, coasting at 134-2 by the 15th over, lost five wickets for 39 runs to hand India a famous win before some 19,000 delirious South African fans waving the Indian flag.

Seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth shone with the ball taking 2-12 off his four overs. Irfan Pathan and Sharma also claimed two wickets each.

The final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Monday will be the first major title clash between India and Pakistan since the limited-overs world championship of cricket in Melbourne in 1985.

“I think there were certain crucial moments in the game that India played better than us and deserved to win,” said Australian captain Adam Gilchrist, standing in for the injured Ricky Ponting.

“This game shows that if you have runs on the board you can put the other team under pressure and India did it very well tonight.”

Dhoni said his team was delighted to prove critics wrong.

“I think everyone said Australia were the favourites and I am glad we proved them wrong,” the Indian captain said.

“Once we posted a reasonable total, I knew we could win even when Hayden and Symonds were scoring so heavily.

“I just told Joginder before the final over to bowl as if he was bowling in a domestic match and not a world championship semi-final.

“I told him that you have faced such situations in domestic matches and done well, so there was no reason why you can’t do it again. God bless him, it worked out well.”

Left-handed Yuvraj, who smashed England fast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in a over on Wednesday, hit five sixes and as many boundaries to boost India’s total.

Dhoni chipped in with 36 off 18 balls as India plundered 128 runs in the final 10 overs after a slow start.

Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa (34) hammered 84 for the third wicket off just 40 deliveries after India had plodded to 41-2 by the eighth over.

Yuvraj walked in after openers Virender Sehwag (nine) and Gautam Gambhir (24) had fallen against the tight Australian seam bowling.

Yuvraj took charge immediately, slamming the first delivery he faced from Stuart Clark for six over square-leg.

Symonds’ first over, the 11th of the innings, produced 19 runs as Yuvraj helped himself to a six and four and Uthappa pulled a short ball for six.

Yuvraj brought up his half-century off 20 balls by lofting Clark for his fourth six and Uthappa celebrated his partner’s feat by smashing two consecutive sixes off Mitchell Johnson.

Australia bounced back in style from Wednesday night’s humiliation against Zimbabwe, producing a performance with bat and ball that was as disciplined and purposeful as their earlier efforts had been flaccid and complacent. After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, they stifled England’s attacking intent to bowl them out for 135, then raced to an eight-wicket victory with more than a quarter of the overs remaining, thanks largely to an unbeaten 67 from 43 balls from Matthew Hayden.

The cause of England’s downfall was a muddled performance from their batsman, who seemed more distracted by Australia’s pre-match predicament than the Aussies themselves. Though Kevin Pietersen had talked in gleeful terms of “humiliating” their oldest rivals and sending them home early, none of his team-mates were able to back up the big words with deeds. Pietersen bristled during a 20-ball cameo but yorked himself when well set on 21, Collingwood clobbered 18 quick runs then missed a low full-toss, and by the time the last five wickets had tumbled for eight runs, Andrew Flintoff’s 31 from 19 balls was as good as England could offer.

After the Zimbabwe match, Ricky Ponting had called on his players to respect the game a little more, and this time Australia were a committed unit from the very first ball. Brett Lee, whose thunderbolts had been misdirected during Wednesday’s defeat, conceded just nine runs in his first two overs to push England’s openers onto the defensive, and he was superbly backed up by his fellow seamers - Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson - who took eight wickets between them and in doing so conceded more more than six runs an over.

England’s top three were confronted by a pitch with more bounce than had been on offer in the opening two matches, and expended far too much energy swishing wildly outside off stump. Maddy, whose love of the cut shot has made him the highest score Englishman in Twenty20 history, failed to connect with a succession of cross-batted swipes before chipping tamely to Mike Hussey at mid-off; Matt Prior swung loosely to wide mid-on, while Luke Wright, who looked overawed by the occasion, failed to get his foot to the pitch of the ball in a wild six-ball stay which ended when he snicked a thin edge through to Gilchrist off Johnson.

At the end of the six-over fielding restrictions, England were stuck on an uneasy 35 for 1. Pietersen whistled his first ball through the covers for four, while Collingwood swiped a Lee free hit for a big six over midwicket, but both men fell when well set, as too did Flintoff, whose consecutive straight sixes off Andrew Symonds were as good as England’s innings got.

Australia’s approach with the bat could hardly have been more different or effective. Adam Gilchrist and Hayden were never less than positive in their intent during their 78-run stand for the first wicket, but their shot selection was much more measured than in that first match. Both batsmen chose to thread the ball rather than thump it as Stuart Broad and Flintoff shared the new ball, and their eyes were in by the time the fielding restrictions were lifted.

England’s first bowling change signalled the change in intent. Collingwood brought himself in to take the pace off the ball, but Gilchrist responded by sweeping him dismissively into the midwicket stand for six. That was the cue for Hayden to lift his own tempo, and James Kirtley’s first international over for three-and-a-half years went for 17 - three crashing fours from Hayden and a flicked half-volley from Gilchrist.

After six overs, Australia were cruising on 61 for 0 - almost double England’s earlier effort. After an ineffectual over from Mascarenhas, England turned to the spin of Chris Schofield, who struck with his first delivery as Gilchrist, within one shot of a 28-ball half-century, lofted straight to Flintoff at long-on.

The set-back didn’t slow Hayden, however, who piled into Mascarenhas with a monstrous smear over cow corner that had Pietersen wincing at the power of the shot, and then followed up with a delicate reverse-paddle for four. By now England’s only consolation was they were guaranteed their progression to the second round, at the expense of the luckless Zimbabweans, who had been far more competitive in their own defeat against England than England themselves were now proving against the Aussies.

Flintoff returned to the attack, despite some very obvious discomfort with that troublesome ankle, and produced England’s best moment in the field when he stuck out his left hand in his followthrough and nonchalantly plucked a lofted drive from Ponting out of thin air. But the end was already nigh, and Hayden delivered the coup de grace by walloping three consecutive fours as Schofield returned to the attack. A match that had begun amid huge hype and expectation had finished with a familiar English rout, and by the end, Ponting was even seen to be smiling again.

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