IND vs AUS: Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni lead India to series-levelling win

MS Dhoni pulled off a tight finish for India just like old times to silence his critics after captain Virat Kohli laid the foundation for a serieslevelling sixwicket win against Australia with his 39th ODI hundred here on TuesdayChase master Kohli could not take his team to the finishing line this time but Dhoni 55 off 54 and Dinesh Karthik 25 off 14 rose to the occasion with an unbeaten 57run stand off 34 balls taking India home with four balls to spare Australia scored 2988 after opting to batMan of the match Kohli was dismissed in the 44th over after making 104 off 112 balls with five fours and two sixes Dhoni who has been coping a lot of criticism for his waning finishing skills turned back the clock and took India past the finish line with a final over sixThe third and final ODI will be in Melbourne on FridayIndia got off to a frantic start with Shikhar Dhawan hitting five boundaries in his 28ball 32 runs He put on 47 runs for the opening wicket with Rohit Sharma 43The latter had another strong outing adding 54 runs with Kohli for the second wicket as India crossed 100 in the 18th over But just when things were going smoothly he mishit a pull off Marcus Stoinis 146 and was caught in the deepAmbati Rayudu 24 then came to the crease and while he added 59 runs with Kohli for the third wicket it was plain obvious that the number four batsman struggled for timingKohli meanwhile was in cruise mode rotating strike and picking the odd boundary with ease as he reached fifty in 66 balls The star batsman stayed in the same mode as the asking rate climbedBut it was Rayudu who tried attacking the bowling and perished instead caught in the deep off Glenn Maxwell 116 in the 31st overDhoni then joined Kohli and the duo put on 82 runs for the fourth wicket with clever rotation of strike as India crossed 200 in the 37th over to keep pace with the asking rateKohli changed gears as he hit two immaculate sixes through pure timing and reached his hundred off 108 balls It was his sixth ODI hundred against AustraliaThe turning point came in the 44th over though when Australia masterminded Kohlis dismissal through some clever field placement in the deep He holed out to Maxwell off Jhye Richardson 159Dhoni then took over and put on matchwinning partnership with Karthik In doing so he turned back the clocks to lead India to a tense finish and completed his second consecutive halfcentury in as many matches 69th overall off 53 ballsThe veterans running between the wickets laced with two sixes as the only boundaries finished things off in style for IndiaEarlier Shaun Marsh scored his seventh ODI hundred to take Australia to a challenging totalMarsh arrived at the crease at 262 and scored 131 runs and added 94 runs off 65 balls with Glenn Maxwell 48 off 37 ballsThe hosts were unchanged from the previous game while India brought in debutant Mohammed Siraj in place of Khaleel AhmedBhuvneshwar Kumar 445 and Mohammed Shami 358 exerted themselves on proceedings with the new ball and didnt let the Australian openers get away quicklyKumar bowled Aaron Finch 6 through the gate in the seventh over in a nearsimilar replay of his dismissal in the first ODI At the other end Alex Carey 18 looked set once again before getting out two overs later a topedge off Shamis quick bouncer caught at midwicket as Shikhar Dhawan took a skierIt brought Marsh and Usman Khawaja 21 together and they put on 56 runs off 65 balls Their partnership threatened to turn the game away but Ravindra Jadeja affected a brilliant runout in the 19th over to dismiss Khawaja with a direct throw from backward pointMarsh was able to manoeuvre the middle overs very well as Mohammed Siraj 076 was proving expensive in every spell The debutant sprayed the ball all over and was never able to hit a consistent lineIndia were forced to bowl Kuldeep Yadav 066 and Jadeja 149 earlier in the innings than planned and even Shami came back for a spell before the 25th over as the lack of a sixth bowling option started to showAustralia did them a favour by losing wickets at regular intervals Peter Handscomb 20 was stumped off Jadeja in the 28th over with MS Dhoni affecting another quick dismissal But he had added 52 runs with Marsh for the fourth wicket carrying Australia past 100 in the 22nd overMarsh reached his halfcentury off 62 balls and added 55 runs with Marcus Stoinis 29 for the fifth wicketTheir partnership threatened to change the pace of scoring but Shami struck in the 37th over an inside edge caught behind to dismiss StoinisMaxwell hit five fours and a six as Australia accelerated after reaching 200 in the 39th over Marsh meanwhile had reached his hundred off 108 ballsSiraj had a woeful day as he missed out twice on Maxwells wicket as the hardhitting batsman survived on 26 and 41 First DRS overturned an lbw decision in the 44th over with the ball going down leg and then Rohit Sharma dropped a tough chance at extra cover in the 47th overKumar returned to account for both Maxwell and Marsh in the 48th over and it dented momentum towards 300 as Australia lost a flurry of wicketsCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever