Ashish Shukla Port Elizabeth : India crashed to an embarrassing 80-run defeat after their batsmen once again capitulated meekly while chasing a competitive target in the fourth cricket one-dayer against South Africa here today.

The Indian bowlers raised visions of a change in fortunes when they restricted South Africa to 243 for eight on a sporting track at St. George's Park but as in the previous games on the tour, the batsmen were once again found wanting against genuine fast bowling.

The Indians were bowled out for 163 with nearly 12 overs to spare to suffer a 3-0 defeat in the five-match series, the last tie of which would be played on December 3 in Centurion. The teams will play a Twenty20 game in between on December 1 in Potchefstroom. The first game at Johannesburg was washed out.

Shaun Pollock (2-23) and Makhaya Ntini (2-34) were brilliant with the new ball and thoroughly exposed the inadequacies of India's top order.

The duo were well backed by Justin Kemp (3-21), Andre Nel (1-40) and Jacques Kallis (1-41) who razed down the middle and lower order to give the visitors no glimmer of hope.

The defeat meant India failed to utilise the full quota of 50 overs for the third match in succession.

What hurt most was the way the Indians surrendered without a semblance of a fight and the batsmen's spineless show that undid the good work by the bowlers.

After Zaheer Khan (1-38) and S Sreesanth (1-29) did the early damage, veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble (2-42) kept it tight in the middle to lead India's resurgence following huge losses in the previous two matches.