MS Dhoni and Kedhar Jadhav scored half-centuries as India won the third and final ODI against Australia by seven wickets at Melbourne on Friday to seal the series 2-1. The result also ensured that India won their first ever bilateral ODI series in Australia.

Chasing 231 to win, Dhoni (87*) and Jadhav (61*) put together a 121-run partnership to take India home after the bowlers, led by Yuzvendra Chahal (6-42) dismissed Australia for just 230 in the first innings after putting them in to bat first.

Yet, despite having to chase a relatively low total, India didn’t make the best of starts to the match as Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply once again after edging one to first slip.

Rohit had earlier survived a DRS review in the first over of the game itself but could not make the most of his second life.

His opening partner Shikhar Dhawan didn’t fare much better as he made a decent start to the innings and even built a steady partnership with Virat Kohli.

However, he had to make the long walk back to the shed after he played a weak shot off Marcus Stoinus that the bowler did well to hold on to on the follow through.

Out came MS Dhoni, whose partnership with Kohli in the previous game at Adelaide was key to India’s eventual victory in the match.

However, Dhoni too survived a scare as he smashed the very first ball he faced straight to Glenn Maxwell at point who could not hold on to what was a routine catch.

It didn’t help matters that the two were involved in two close calls as some miscommunication while running between the wickets almost had Kohli out.

Once the nerves settled, the two looked set to put together a big partnership with Dhoni even hitting a few balls to the boundary.

Yet just as the duo looked set to produce another good partnership, Kohli edged one off Richardson behind the wicket.

This brought Kedhar Jadhav out to the crease, who took a cautious approach knowing that another wicket could have spelled trouble for the visitors as they still needed 118 runs to win when Kohli departed.

Dhoni followed suit and was eventually able to bring up his third half-century of the series while Jadhav did enough to keep the scoreboard ticking along.

However, the scoring rate once again dipped below what was required and with the final five overs of the game remaining, India needed 44 runs to seal the deal.

Peter Siddle eased the pressure slightly in the 46th over, bowling two wides in the beginning as India took 11 runs off his over.

The next over went for six runs, meaning India needed to score at a rate of 9 an over to win the game.

The 48th over was an eventful one as Dhoni was dropped by Finch, with Jadhav also surviving a run-out. Both went on to hit boundaries – Jadhav bringing up his 50 – to get ahead of the asking rate.

Siddle’s next over turned out to be the one that all but finished the match as India managed to score 13 runs from it and Jadhav finished the job on the second ball of the final over, smashing a boundary.

Earlier Chahal, who was playing his first match of the series, spun webs around the Australian batsmen.

Only Peter Handscomb managed to score a respectable 58 off 63 balls before falling to Chahal.

It was an underwhelming batting performance by the home team who hit just 17 boundaries and were dismissed with 8 balls remaining in their innings.

The openers again failed to get a start, with Alex Carey (5) getting a nick off Bhuvneshwar Kumar that was caught by Virat Kohli at second slip.

Australian skipper Finch followed six overs later with Bhuvneshwar doing the damage once again, this time trapping him leg before wicket for 14.

Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja steadied the innings before the former was cleverly stumped by MS Dhoni off a wide down the leg-side from Chahal for 39.

Khawaja followed suit just three balls later when he got a thick leading edge and offered Chahal a return catch for 34.

Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell both got starts but couldn’t make them count, the former falling to Chahal while the latter holed out to Shami.

Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa and Handscomb were all snared by Chahal while Billy Stanlake was bowled by Shami for a duck to end the Australian innings.