India vs Australia 3rd ODI: As it happened in Melbourne

In the series decider third ODI between India and Australia, captain Kohli wins toss, opts to bowl at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). 

Here are India and Australia's playing XI for the series decider:

India XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.

Changes: Three changes for India as Yuzi, Jadhav and Shankar come in for Kuldeep, Rayudu and Siraj. 

Australia XI: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake

Changes: The hosts had announced their XI on the eve of the match, like always. Zampa in for Lyon, while back soreness has ruled out fast bowler Behrendorff. Stanlake returns in place of the left-armer. 

Looks like we might have a delayed start today. The covers are on. It is raining at the MCG, not the sign we want ahead of a series decider. PC: Twitter

After a bit delayed start, the play finally goes underway as Bhuvneshwar Kumar begins the proceedings for India. Two balls are bowled before the rain returns! The players are running off the field, the covers are being rushed in, super quick work from the ground staff, impressive! According to the latest info from the MCG, the rain is not heavy so we are still hopeful of some action soon. 

India 1 for 0 (Overs 0.2) 

Play resumes at the MCG as the rain stops. Bhuvi continues his first over and we have a massive appeal just second ball after the rain break. The umpire is not interested maybe because of the height. Two balls later, Finch survives as his thick inside edge falls short of the first slip. He clearly is not in form and these rain breaks are not making his case any easier. Australia need their skipper to lead from the front today in the series decider, big test for Finch as a batsman. PC: Twitter

Australia 5 for 2 (Overs 2) 

OUT!

In the fifth ball of the third over, Bhuvi bowls a short ball to Alex Carey, who goes on the backfoot trying to defend it but ends up sending a thick outside edge to Kohli at the second slip. The Indian skipper dives forward to complete a low catch, great start for the visitors. Carey out for 5 off 11 balls. 

Australia 8 for 1 (Overs 3) 

Aussie skipper Aaron Finch's disastrous run continues, he gets out to Bhuvi for the third time this series. Bhuvi bowls one outside off, Finch gets beaten by the late movement, gets hit in front of the pad. The umpire wastes no time as he instantly raises his finger. At the end of the first powerplay, India are the dominant of the two teams.Last match's centurion Shaun Marsh is the new man in. 

Australia 30 for 2 in 10 overs

In the 15th over, bowled by Kedar Jadhav, Dhoni gives Shaun Marsh a life. Jadhav bowls one outside off to the Aussie, who gets a feather edge but Dhoni drops it behind the stumps. It should have been a sitter and considering Marsh has been in a red hot form in the limited-overs, Dhoni will only hope the former does not go big in today's decider. 

Australia 80 for 2, Overs 20

Double strikes for Yuzvendra Chahal in his very first over this series! 

Chahal, who was not played in the first two games, strikes with his second ball as he removes previous match's centurion Shaun Marsh. Dhoni in a rare sight is not sure about his stumping, but Kohli convinces him that Marsh didn't make it. The replays show Kohli was right. Marsh was playing a sensible knock again today but he has to go for 39. 

Two balls later, Yuzi has Khawaja's wicket too! Yuzi bowls one on Khawaja's leg stump, who tries to play to the on-side but a leading edge goes back to the bowler who takes an easy return catch. Massive blow for the hosts as both their in-form batsmen have been sent back to the pavilion now. 

Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis are at the crease now with 25 more overs left in the innings.

Australia 105 for 4, Overs 25

OUT!

Yuzi is picked for one match, the crucial one - decider - and he is showing why the skipper backs him so much. Third wicket in four overs for the spinner. The slow MCG pitch aids him in the turn as he bowls one on Stoinis' leg stump. The Aussie trying to defend ends up getting a thick edge that flies to first slip. Rohit there takes a brilliant low one-handed catch to dismiss Stoinis. 

Australia 142 for 4, Overs 33

Kohli brings back fast bowler Shami into the attack in the 35th over. What followed next displays the amount of patience Shami carries with him in his bowling. He begins with three runs off the first three balls before Maxwell comes to the strike. Shami bowls a short ball but a top edge goes to the boundary. Shami then bowls am even better short ball, but due to the height, the umpires signal it a wide. This time, Shami bowls a bouncer to Maxwell, who only manages to hang his bat up and an edge flies. Bhuvi, the fielder there, has to run for some 10-15m but he has his eyes glued to the ball before he dives and takes a two-handed stunning catch. 

After two breakthroughs, now Bhuvi has a catch to his name as well today. It keeps getting better for him and in turn better for India. 

Australia 181 for 6, overs 38

OUT! The turn generated by Chahal beats Jhye Richardson. He was supporting Handscomb well but Chahal continues to make the most of the slow pitch. The ball has pace than expected, it turns way too much and the confused Aussie ends up flicking it as the ball flies to Kedar Jadhav at short mid-wicket. Chahal breaks the stand just after Handscomb brings up his 3rd ODI fifty and second of the series. 

Adam Zampa is the new man in

Australia 219 for 7, Overs 45.5

Chahal to Handscomb in the 46th over, the ball is not that short of length but the Aussie still goes on the backfoot to play it; but an inside edge beats him in the front pad, in front of middle stump. The crowd breaks into massive celebration as Chahal becomes just the third Indian bowler with five or more wickets in an ODI Down Under after Agarkar and Shastri. PC: BCCI

In the 48th over, Chahal dismisses Zampa and claim his career-best figures of 6 for 42. Five balls later, fast bowler Mohammed Shami cleans up Stanlake to end Aussies' innings at 230 in 48.4 overs. Apart from Handscomb, Khawaja and Marsh, the hosts have suffered eyt another collective batting failure. PC: AFP

Australia 230-all out in 48.4 overs

Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma spent some time with their skipper Kohli when the rain had delayed India's chase. Now with the covers off, Rohit and Dhawan have walked out on the field, Richardson with the ball for the Aussies. India need 231 to win the decider match. PC: Twitter

OUT! Peter Siddle gets his prize for striking consistently the required line and lengths. Rohit tries to flick it over square leg but a leading edge flies to Shaun Marsh, who takes a sharp catch at first slip. Massive wicket for Australia. 

India are 15 for 1, Overs 6

After Billy Stanlake's pace did not trouble Kohli, Aussie skipper brings his all-rounder Marcus Stoinis into the attack. And he strikes with his very second ball of the day. A slower ball from the Aussie, Dhawan drives the ball back to the Stoinis, who takes a superb return catch. Those reflexes were of some other level. "he is a whole-hearted cricketer for sure," the commentator says and the celebration from Stoinis shows what the wicket means to him. Excellent scenes at the MCG. 

DROPPED! Oh, dear, has Maxwell dropped the series for Australia? Had he caught that, MS Dhoni would be walking back for a golden duck now. It was Dhoni who remained unbeaten in the previous match to take India home successfully. 

India are 73 for 2, Overs 20

A couple of nervy moments for India but Kohli and Dhoni somehow were lucky to survive. In the 21st over, Dhoni drives the ball to mid-off and takes around four steps before shouting 'NO' for the single. But by then Kohli was too far down. He runs back but he was lucky that the Aussies missed a direct hit or else Kohli would go packing. 

In the 22nd over, this time Kohli pushes the ball wide of point and races for a single. However, Khawaja dives across and sends the two batsmen back to their respective ends. Khawaja, who threw the ball at Kohli's end, should have sent at the other because Dhoni had come a lot further than Kohli. 

India are 89 for 2, Overs 26

It's 3 out of 3 for Jhye Richardson against Virat Kohli this series! 

In a repeat of Kohli's 2014 issue, he goes after the away ball with a drive, gets a hard edge that goes into the safe hands of Alex Carey behind the wickets. The young pacer breaks into a massive celebration and why not? He has brought Australia right back into the match. From here on, they cannot afford to drop catches or produce any clumsy fielding.

India are 120 for 3, need 111

MS Dhoni records his career's 70th ODI fifty, 10th against Australia and eighth on the Australian soil. This new year has kicked off brilliantly for our former skipper:

In 2018:
Innings - 13
50s - 0

In 2019:
Innings - 3
50s - 3

India need 81 in 72 balls and they still have their 'finisher' Dhoni at the crease. Do you think this will go down to the wires? Let's see! 

After Kohli's dismissal, Kedar Jadhav has supported Dhoni quite well here to stablise India's chase of 231 in this series decider match. After Dhoni brings up his career's 70th ODI fifty, Dhoni-Jadhav take their partnership to 50-plus for the fourth wicket. 

India need 53 off 42

Double relief for India. MS Dhoni was been dropped by Aaron Finch off a tough chance. There was a run out appeal against Jadhav after that. It was referred upstairs but seems that the batsman just made it.

India need 27 runs from the last three overs.

Dhoni started the 48th over with a boundary and Kedar finished it with another. What a way to bring up your half century.

India need 14 runs off 12 balls now.

Kedar Jadhav scores the winning runs as India win the match by 7 wickets. They win the series 2-1. Dhoni (87) and Jadhav (57) take India home. 

(Image: AFP)