Steve Waugh praises
Hayden and Ponting

Australia captain Steve Waugh lauded centurions Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting after Australia beat India by 93 runs on Tuesday to level the five-match one-day series at 2-2.

"Ponting showed great character after his recent run of low scores," Waugh said of the man who came in at number three to make 101.

Hayden made 111, his maiden one-day century. The left-handed opener, who top-scored in the recent Test series, hit half-centuries in the first two one-dayers. He was rested for the third match at Indore, which Australia lost by 118 runs.

"Hayden batted superbly again. Today we put up an excellent performance. It was a good professional effort," Waugh said.

The series decider takes place in Goa on Friday and Waugh said Australia would put up a good fight.

"We won the (1999) World Cup. We don't give up a title easily," he said.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly said allowing Australia to set a huge total was his team's undoing.

Australia amassed 338 for four, their highest score against India in a one-day international, before dismissing the home side for 245.

"They had a very big total, after that we had very little chance. There are no excuses, they played much better today," Ganguly said.

But Ganguly warned India would hit back in the decider.

"It's a crunch game, we hope to come back and play good cricket," he said.

Mail Cricket Editor