A series that was seemingly traveling in a one-way traffic, was brought to life as India carved out a thrilling eight-run win over the rampaging Australians in fourth ODI at the Sector 16 Stadium, which was hosting its first international match after 16 years.

Things could be a lot different here at the IPCL ground, which is hosting the second one-day international this year -- so much for BCCI's rotation policy -- when Mahendra Singh Dhoni's boys take on the Aussie might in the crucial fifth one-dayer on Thursday.

History may favour India at this small stadium, but against a side like Australia that will count for little in what promises to be another high-scoring match. The brownish pitch indeed left batsmen from both sides licking their lips. The IPCL ground is known to produce big scoring matches. The last time India played here, they stacked up 341 against the West Indies and went on to score a big win.

Tough weather
But then Australia are no West Indies. Under the hot and humid conditions here, India will have to pull off another stellar show to against the visitors, whose captain has already sounded a warning saying his team would treat Thursday's game as final. Having lost the last match, you can expect Ricky Pinting's men to come harder than before at their opposition.  
 
The key to success in the last match was an all-round show by a team that was fired up by more than one reason. Having said enough in the first two games, Indians were given such a hiding by the Australians that the Twenty20 champs had to prove that there is more to them than a bunch of foul-mouthed players.

There was a point to be made by the seniors for the unwarranted criticism by the Chairman of the Selectors. And you can count Sachin Tendulkar to get his act right nine out of ten times. Sourav Ganguly, one of the best players ever to have played the one-day game, too had been pricked by an innocuous statement by the Board's secretary.

The duo had laid -- in contrasting styles -- foundation that had been found wanting in the previous games in that game and the rest of the batsmen did extremely well to make the most of that start to put on board a total that was good enough for the Indian bowlers, particularly for the spinners, to defend successfully.

Spinners crucial
Murali Kartik, playing his first international match in nearly 20 months, tied the Aussies with left-arm spinners and got the crucial wicket of Matthew Hayden. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh too came to the party as India held their nerve and got the better of Aussies. Come Thursday, the spinners will again have an important role to play especially in the middle overs, whether bowling first or second. 

The fact wasn't lost on Ponting, who, however, maintained that his team had the wherewithal to deal with the Indian spinners. If past records are anything to go by, Ponting does a have a point. The key to India's success would be containing the marauding duo of Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. And to think that Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting to an extent still haven't got amongst runs, India have an intimidating task at hand.

Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Kaarthick, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, Brett Lee, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Adam Vogues, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Amish Saheba; Third umpire: Suresh Shastri; Match refree: Chris Broad.