Virat Kohli struck a scintillating century to help the visitors post a challenging 295 for six against Australia in the third cricket ODI here today.
Put into bat in a must-win game, India lost centurion Rohit Sharma early after which Kohli piloted the innings at the MCG. During his run-a-ball 117, Kohli became the fastest man to get past 7000 ODI runs and 24 centuries.
Shikhar Dhawan (68) was slow during his 91-ball stay, but managed to stitch a 119-run second-wicket stand with Kohli, whose well-paced innings was laced with seven fours and two sixes.
Kohli then found Rahane's company as the duo managed a 109-run third-wicket partnership to set the stage for a big finish.
Earlier, Rohit and Dhawan took first strike then, but the in-form opener couldn't replicate his centuries from the first two matches and was out caught behind off Kane Richardson (1-48) in the 5th over.
Kohli then walked to the crease, and looked fluent from the beginning. It was important in the context of the innings as Dhawan was scoring slow. While they didn't lose any more wickets, India could only reach 62/1 in the first 15 overs.
Kohli got to his fifty in 51 deliveries, while Dhawan brought up his 16th ODI half-century off 76 balls. India's 100-mark came up in the 22nd over earlier, while they also brought up their 100-partnership off 120 balls.
The visitors sprung a couple surprises in the afternoon, when they handed debuts to both Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Rishi Dhawan. Ravichandran Ashwin and Manish Pandey were excluded from the playing eleven. Meanwhile, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the third man in the history to lead his side in 300 international matches after Ricky Ponting and Stephen Fleming.
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