India will now play Australia in their ODI World Cup opener on October 8 at Chennai's M. A. Chidambaram Stadium after the series was decided 2-1 in favour of India.
Australia defeated India by 66 runs in the third One-Day International on Wednesday in Rajkot, showing off its potent batting lineup and wide variety of bowlers to snap a dismal five-match losing streak.
After recovering from an injury, Glenn Maxwell contributed 4/40 with the ball to help stop 352 runs. India was gaining momentum but failed to make the decisive move. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma each scored fifty, and several others started to score, but nobody was able to lead the pursuit.
In the first PowerPlay, Rohit had a good time by attacking the pacers. He began his innings with a pull against Mitchell Starc in the opening over. As India quickly advanced to its 50 in the seventh over, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were the next to witness Rohit unleash his signature strokes.
When available, the skipper was equally skilled at sending complete deliveries through the off-side. Washington Sundar took his time to launch in his debut essay as an opening batter. But in the fifth over, he got his footing and punished a half-tracker from Hazlewood.
Starc struck down Rohit on 48 off Green. He was able to run two and record a 31-ball fifty thanks to the respite.
Maxwell advanced and forced Washington to flee after a mistimed inside-out shot to long off as pacers struggled. India could only remove 19 runs from the target between overs 11 and 15 due to the field's dispersion.
When facing Cummins, Virat Kohli broke the chains by rotating his wrists and whipping an outside pitch over square leg. India scored 100 in the 16th over as he lofted the following delivery from a few inches above mid-off. Next in line was Tanvir Sangha. Before Rohit swept to get a pick of 10 from the over, Kohli smacked a full delivery down the ground.
The audience chanted "Kohli, Kohli" in response to Kohli's six sprinting down the track off Starc. However, India encountered a roadblock when Maxwell claimed Rohit's wicket with a mind-blowing one-handed catch off his bowling.
Maxwell increased the suffering. Kohli's reckless heave drew a top edge, which Steve Smith chased down from mid-wicket to gather one over after reaching fifty runs.
To get the pursuit back on track, K.L. Rahul and Shreyas Iyer nibbled in singles. Together, they secured a 50-run stand by collecting the lone boundary. But later, Rahul made a mistake and provided Alex Carey a skier due to the steadily increasing asking rate.
In the subsequent two overs, Australia tightened the noose. Hazlewood pressured Suryakumar Yadav into a pull shot, and he then delivered a sitter to mid-wicket before Maxwell castled Iyer to take his fourth wicket.
Sangha destroyed Ravindra Jadeja's 37-run resistance in the 49th over after he was left alone with the tail. India was dismissed for 286 when the pacers returned to finish off the remaining runs.
Australia's innings earlier in the day, which appeared to be headed for more than 400 runs, stumbled in the late stages.
Australia scored 90 runs by the end of the PowerPlay thanks to some outstanding batting. Between a brick wall and a hard place, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj found themselves. Mitchell Marsh and David Warner gorged on the bigger deliveries because there was little to no swing available. Nothing changed after retraction of the lengths.
When Marsh scored 14 runs in the third over, bowled by Bumrah, with a pull shot over mid-wicket and a slap through point, the floodgates flowed. Warner then scored 16 from Siraj's over.
A similar reception was given to Prasidh Krishna as Warner scored 19 runs off of his opening over. After scoring 50 runs on 32 balls, Warner could only add five more. He attempted an overly ambitious scoop to Krishna's fine leg.
Jadeja, a local boy, was announced as Australia's new leader. Although his stump-to-stump flat deliveries were successful, Smith and Marsh were at ease looking for stray balls. Marsh completed his fifty deliveries in 45 attempts.
Sundar imitated the strategy of his older bowling partner, forcing the Australian pair to score runs directly off the wicket. However, when Bumrah came back, Marsh accelerated. He hit two fours through the off-side after parking two short deliveries over the deep square barrier.
Marsh missed a century by four runs after cutting Kuldeep Yadav's half-tracker to hole out at covers. Marsh put his hands over his head for almost half the distance back to the dugout, mostly out of surprise and partially out of regret.
