India finished third in the ICC [Images] Women's World Cup after Jhulan Goswami [Images] and her teammates edged past defending champions Australia [Images] by three wickets in a play-off match at the Bankstown Oval in Sydney on Saturday.

The Indian bowlers ran through Australia's batting, bundling them out for 142 in 44.4 overs.

Just three batters -- captain Karen Rolton (52), Lisa Sthalekar (30) and Alex Blackwell (19) -- could get into double digit scores.

India's chase was not smooth sailing either. They faltered before eventually reaching 145 for seven wickets in 43.5 overs in the match, which was reduced to 46-overs-a-side following rain.

Sulakshana Naik top-scored for India with 28 while Rumeli Dhar [Images] (24) and Jhulan (18) steered the team victory with an unbeaten 41-run stand.

This was India's second victory over the defending champions, having earlier beaten them by 16 runs in the Super Six stage.

Rolton's decision to bat first today clearly backfired as Jhulan castled Leah Poulton with the fourth delivery of the day.

Shelley Nitschke (6), the other opener, too did not last long as Rumeli dismissed her in the sixth over, reducing the hosts to eight for two.

Rolton and Blackwell had just steadied the ship when India's left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana dismissed the latter and Australia soon lost the top half of their batting order with the score reading a mere 63.

Rolton found an able ally in the Pune-born Sthalekar and they put on 60 runs before Priyanka Roy ejected the Australian captain to trigger a batting collapse and the hosts eventually folded for 142 runs inside 45 overs.

India's pursuit for a modest chase got off to a decent start with opener Anjum Chopra [Images] (18) and Anagha Deshpande (15) adding 33 runs before Erin Osborne removed both in successive overs.

Sthalekar then ran through the middle order, removing Mithali Raj [Images] (15), Sulakshana Naik (28) and Priyanka Roy (6) to leave India reeling at 104 for seven.

Jhulan and Rumeli, however, arrested the slide playing sensible yet positive cricket and they stayed till the end to complete a close win.

Rumeli was adjudged the Player of the Match for her all-round display.

Scorecard

 Australia:
 LJ Poulton b Goswami 0
 S Nitschke c Deshpande b Dhar 6
 AJ Blackwell c Sharma b Sultana 19
 KL Rolton c Goswami b Roy 52
 JM Fields c Kamini b Sultana 6
 J Cameron c Raj b Dhar 7
 LC Sthalekar c Naik b Roy 30
 EA Perry run out 2
 RM Farrell b Goswami 9
 EA Osborne c Roy b Sharma 6
 SJ Andrews not out 0
 Extras: (LB-2, W-3) 5
 Total: (All out in 44.4 overs) 142

 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-8, 3-35, 4-50, 5-63, 6-123, 7-124, 8-131, 9-139.

 Bowling: Jhulan 9.4-3-21-2; Rumeli 9-1-24-2; Amita 8-0-25-1; Gouher 9-0-27-2; Priyanka 5-0-21-2; Harmanpreet 4-0-22-0.

 India:
 Anagha Deshpande lbw b Osborne 18
 Anjum Chopra b Osborne 15
 Sulakshana Naik c Perry b Sthalekar 28
 Mithali Raj st Fields b Sthalekar 15
 Thirush Kamini c Fields b Perry 11
 Priyanka Roy b Sthalekar 6
 Rumeli Dhar not out 24
 Amita Sharma [Images] lbw b Perry 3
 Jhulan Goswami not out 18
 Extras: (B-1, W-6) 7
 Total: (For 7 wickets in 43.5 overs) 145

 Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-40, 3-72, 4-85, 5-98, 6-98, 7-104.

 Bowling: Andrews 5-0-23-0; Farrell 4-0-17-0; Osborne 9-0-21-2; Sthalekar 10-1-27-3; Nitschke 9-1-30-0; Perry 6.5-1-26-2.