AUS VS IND - 3rd ODI, India tour of Australia, 2018-19

It's moments like these that sports fans live for. No Smith, no Warner, but history remembers those who triumph. India have created history in so many ways Down under, and who knows, perhaps 2018/19 will be the next generation's 1983. As the Indians bask in glory in the grandiose of the MCG lights, it's Rishi Roy signing off along with Vineet Anantharaman, Sagar Chawla, Ramki MS, and Naga. To many more game-defining, legend-reviving tours this year, and hopefully a fantastic World Cup. It's curtains down from Down Under.

Australia went retro for this series and the scores also took us back down the memory lane. The 300-run mark was never breached across the three games, but every match was fought hard and went deep. Kohli is a happy and proud captain having not lost a series on the entire tour and MSD wins the Man of the Series award without actually winning a Man of the Match award. Teams are focusing mainly on the World Cup, which is about five months away from now. India have ten more games to try and test themselves out, while Australia have five more. The hosts will play Sri Lanka next for a Test series, while the visitors will travel down South-East to take on New Zealand, who themselves are playing an attractive brand of cricket.

Harsha Bhogle: Now that is the performance of a champion. MS Dhoni is man of the series. Brilliant.

Adam Gilchrist hands over the trophy to Virat Kohli, who calls upon his team-mates to start the celebration on the dias.

Virat Kohli (India captain): "It wasn't a great wicket to bat on, so we had to take it deep, but they were professional in getting the job done. We were a bit nervous but two set batsmen in knew exactly what they wanted to do. We wanted to get in a good combination. We wanted to give Kuldeep a rest and we don't want to be too predictable as well. Chahal came in and bowled beautifully. 6/42 was magnificent. Kedar with bat and ball is always handy. We have been here for a long time. It's been an amazing tour for us. We drew the T20 series, won the Test and the ODI series. If someone gave me these results before the tour I would have taken it with both hands. I am really grateful and proud of the side. It was a collective effort. We are feeling confident and balanced as a side with the World Cup in mind. Few games against New Zealand and few more back home to strengthen the areas that we need to work on as a team."

Aaron Finch (Australian captain): "We took it down to the wire. When you give some great players a couple of chances, it always hurts. The way the boys attacked the defence there, gave it everything. Dropped a few chances but that happens. Our batting in the first couple of games was very good. Today maybe we got impatient, looking at something much higher than what the wicket allowed. Maybe we should have set our targets lower on those sort of pitches."

MS Dhoni (Man of the Series): "It was a slow wicket, so it was a bit difficult to hit whenever you wanted to. It was important to take it to the end because some of their bowlers were on the verge of finishing their quota. No point going after the bowlers who were bowling well. Kedar did a great job in playing unorthodox shots and it is important to hit boundaries. It is not about where you want to bat; I am happy to bat at any number and after playing for 14 years I can't say that I don't want to bat at number six and want to bat at four.

Yuzvendra Chahal (Man of the Match): "I enjoyed bowling for the first time in Australia (internationals). The ball was spinning a little bit, so I planned to bowl slow and vary my pace. Looking forward to the New Zealand series."

India's successful run-chases without any of top three scoring 50+ (since Apr 2015)
127 v Zimbabwe, Harare, 2016
223 v Bangladesh, Dubai, 2018
231 v Australia, MCG, 2019

This game was set up mainly by Chahal. His double-strike in the very first over hurt Australia badly and the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Handscomb held one end tight to ensure they got a decent total on the board. India lost Rohit early in the chase and then a set Dhawan later. Kohli looked in control alongside MSD, but the pressure of a few dots at the other end probably got to him and he edged Australia's best bowler to the keeper. Kedar Jadhav walked in, showed great support, listened to MSD's instructions, which is why he didn't try and attack early. An unbeaten 121-run stand gives India their first ever bilateral ODI series win in Australia.

Kohli is elated as the teams do the customary handshake. He pumps his fists. Couldn't finish it with the bat tonight, but he had the master taking full control. At a stage in this game when Dhoni was eating dot balls for fun, many eyebrows were raised that he is playing too slowly and putting pressure on the team. But Dhoni knew what this was all about. He was never bothered despite playing out five successive dots in the 44th over with the asking rate above eight. In his mind, he had things sorted as to which bowler to target and when. Like he does always, took the game deep, respected the good bowlers and took on Siddle and Stoinis to an extent to deliver the final punch.

Stoinis to Kedar Jadhav, FOUR, lofted over mid-wicket and that's the game and the series for India. Dhoni hugs Jadhav as his team-mates sport beaming smiles on their faces near the boundary. India won the Test series 2-1, they take the ODI series 2-1 and they have been unbeaten throughout with the T20s being shared

Gentle chat between the batsmen, meanwhile Kohli and Co. are on their feet to celebrate the win

Stoinis to Kedar Jadhav, no run, low full toss, driven to mid-off

Siddle to Dhoni, no run, field up and this leg stump yorker is dug out to short mid-wicket. A big smile on Dhoni's face and then he gestures to Jadhav with his hand as if to say "It's all yours now son!"

Siddle to Dhoni, FOUR, full ball and it's been smashed. Finch has no chance at mid-off. The crowd are up on their feet. Dhoni waited for that ball to come and absolutely muscled that hard past the bowler

Siddle to Dhoni, wide, another really poor wide down the leg-side. India are just a hit away now

Siddle to Kedar Jadhav, 3 runs, batsman has a lot of time and area to play with on the off-side, however far you may follow him as a bowler, he can easily chip the ball over the infield, Jadhav plays this over backward point

Siddle to Kedar Jadhav, no run, brilliant comeback from Siddle, Jadhav dances around in the crease, but Siddle nails the yorker, threatening to break the toe, dug out hurriedly by the batsman

Siddle to Kedar Jadhav, FOUR, this is avery risky thing to do from Australia, to have no one on the off-side near the boundary and for the bowler to try a slower delivery that lands in the zone, Jadhav backs away and lofts the drive easily over cover

Siddle to Dhoni, 1 run, leg stump low full toss aiming for the yorker, Dhoni flicks it to long leg