A maiden one-day international century by Peter Handscomb helped Australia chase down 359 to defeat India by four wickets in Mohali.
The tourists went into the fourth game of the five-match series trailing 2-1 and in need of a win to keep alive their hopes of securing a moral-boosting win ahead of the World Cup in England, which gets underway in late May.
However, they were up against it when India went into bat first and Shikhar Dhawan hit a career-best 143 in a 193-run partnership with Rohit Sharma, who hit 95 in a solid innings of 358-9.
In reply, the Aussies were rocked by the loss of captain Aaron Finch from the fourth delivery of the innings and were then struggling on 12-2 after Shaun Marsh lost his wicket.
But, Handscomb stepped up to the plate as he and Usman Khawaja – who made 91 – hauled the side right back into the contest.Usman Khawaja
Handscomb eventually fell on 117 from 105 balls with Australia on 271-5 and still 88 runs short of reaching the victory target.
However, Ashton Turner helped them complete their highest successful run-chase with an unbeaten 84 in what was only his second ODI game for Australia.
Despite Pat Cummins taking a career-best 5-70 with the ball, Finch was quick to hail his batsmen afterwards. “The plan was to take the game as deep as we could.
Ashton playing his second game and playing a match-winning knock and Peter playing such a knock and Usman coming to form was wonderful,” he said.
“We have seen him do that a lot in Big Bash. It was a world-class knock and to take on two of the best death bowlers in the world was outstanding.”
