Australia win 3rd ODI to take series after Kohli record

Australia won the third one-day international against India by three wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

After India scored 295 for six, Glenn Maxwell's 96 from 83 deliveries led Australia to victory with seven balls remaining.

Australia lead the five-match series 3-0, with the fourth game to be played in Canberra on Wednesday.

India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli struck a run-a-ball century to help his team set Australia a 296-run victory target in the third one day international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

The 27-year-old right-hander became the fastest to score 7,000-runs in one-dayers, taking five less than the 166 innings South African AB de Villiers needed to reach the mark.

Kohli featured in century stands with Shikhar Dhawan (68) and Ajinkya Rahane (50) to help India post 295-6 in a contest the tourists must win to keep the five-match series alive.

India's failure to defend 300-plus scores in Perth and Brisbane had forced captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to rethink his strategy of batting first but the tourists were denied any such opportunity after Australia
captain Steven Smith won the toss and elected to field.

To compound matters for the tourists, the law of average caught up with opener Rohit Sharma who, after centuries in the last two matches, fell for six in the fifth over.

Dhawan, now a Melbourne resident, however batted himself back into form, raising 119 runs with Kohli before shuffling across to expose his leg-stump which was pegged back by a fuller John Hastings delivery.

Kohli found an able ally in Rahane, who notched up his second successive fifty, as the duo added 109 runs to consolidate India's position.

Hastings, who finished with a career-best 4-58, ended Kohli's sparkling knock of 117 that included two sixes and seven boundaries.

Dhoni plundered 23 runs off nine balls but Australia bowled well to restrict them to a sub-300 total in the end.

Scoreboard:

India
R. Sharma c Wade b Richardson 6
S. Dhawan b Hastings 68
V. Kohli c Bailey b Hastings 117
A. Rahane c Maxwell b Hastings 50
M.S. Dhoni c Maxwell b Hastings 23
G. Singh b Faulkner 8
R. Jadeja not out 6
R. Dhawan not out 3
Extras (lb5 w9) 14
Total (6 wickets, 50 overs) 295
Fall of wickets: 1-15 (R. Sharma), 2-134 (S. Dhawan) 3-243 (Rahane), 4-265 (Kohli), 5-274 (Singh), 6-288 (Dhoni)
Did not bat: U. Yadav, I. Sharma, B. Sran
Bowling: Richardson 10-0-48-1 (2w), Hastings 10-0-58-4 (1w), Faulkner 10-0-63-1 (3w), Boland 9-0-63-0 (1w), Maxwell 9-0-46-0, Marsh 2-0-12-0

Australia
S. Marsh c Dhoni b I. Sharma 62
A. Finch c Dhoni b Yadav 21
S. Smith c Rahane b Jadeja 41
G. Bailey st Dhoni b Jadeja 23
G. Maxwell c Dhawan b Yadav 96
M. Marsh run out 17
M. Wade c S. Dhawan b I. Sharma 6
J. Faulkner not out 21
J. Hastings not out 0
Extras (lb3 w5 nb1) 9
Total (7 wickets: 48.5 overs) 296
Fall of wickets: 1-48 (Finch), 2-112 (Smith), 3-150 (Bailey), 4-167 (S. Marsh), 5-204 (M. Marsh), 6-215 (Wade), 7-295 (Maxwell)
Did not bat: K. Richardson, S. Boland
Bowling: Yadav 9.5-0-68-2 (1w 1nb), Sran 8-0-63-0 (2w), I. Sharma 10-0-53-2 (1w), R. Dhawan 6-0-33-0, Singh 5-0-27-0, Jadeja 10-0-49-2 (1w)
Toss: Australia
Result: Australia won by three wickets
Player of the match: Glenn Maxwell (AUS)
Series: Australia lead 3-0
Umpires: Simon Fry (AUS), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
TV umpire: Mick Martell (AUS)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

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