India closed the ODI series against Australia with a resurging victory after the men in blue had tenaciously avoided the whitewash against the host after the visitors had won the third match by 13 runs and retaliated the host, and the convincing victory was powered by the brilliant shows the visitors unfolded on both the bat and ball. 

Indian team is touring Australia for three ODIs, three T20s, and three tests. ODIs began the tour and when the host had blown the visitors out of the season after winning two of three ODIs, the third match was hosted by Canberra on Wednesday. India came to the field with the must-win match and Kohli won the toss and chose to bat. 

The Indian batsmen had perfectly made use of the batting-friendly pitch after they cemented for a decent score. Though Australian bowler Abbott had broken the Indian opening partnership soon after dismissing Dhawan for 16 when India scored 26 runs, Kohli joined Shubman Gill to put some brilliant shows and they steadily increased the runs to have the game under their control. While Agar had dismissed Gill for 33 runs off 39 balls, Hazlewood sent Kohli back to the gallery and the Indian captain Virat Kohli walked out by scoring 63 runs off 78 balls. 

When Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul got dismissed back to back by scoring 19 and 5 runs respectively, India had lost five wickets for 152  runs in 32 overs. With India's batting line up ended its show by scoring 150 runs, it was expected that India would end its innings for  230 to 250 runs. However, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja showed Aussies that they had a surprise in their store. Pandya and Jadeja had smashed the bowlers of the host and took India to a new height as they punished the Aussie bowlers. 

Hardik Pandya had scored 92 runs off 76 balls including seven fours and one six while Ravindra Jadeja had scored 66 runs off 50 balls including five fours and three sixes. The all-rounder duo had delivered splendid performances and put 150 runs partnership stand without losing the wicket. Finally, India had put 302 runs on board in fifty overs by losing five wickets. Aussies came to the crease to chase 303 runs and in a change, Marnus Labuschagne had come to open the innings of the host only to witness a shock. 

IPL star Natarajan had made his debut to the ODI through this match and he took his first ODI wicket after dismissing Labuschagne. The Aussie batsman got dismissed in the sixth over for seven runs while dangerous Steven Smith got dismissed by Thakur for seven runs. While most of the Aussie players walked back below 50, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell delivered satisfactory plays by scoring 75 and 59 runs respectively. Despite the efforts, the host had conceded the defeat by 13 runs.

Aussies had ended up scoring 289 runs and lost ten wickets. Indian bowling line up had fantastic performances. While Thakur took three wickets, Bumrah and Natarajan had got two wickets each while Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja had got one wicket each. India has won the third match and avoided the whitewash and Kohli's fleet gets ready for the remaining tour. While Hardik Pandya was named as the player of the match, Steve Smith was named as the player of the series. 

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Virat Kohli said, "Happy with the performances, and hopefully, we take the momentum forward. The win was crucial for us as the team needed that kind of boost. We played with heart and desire, and that's what you need to do in Australia. It's particularly pleasing that we were under the pump for the first half of our innings and the second half of Australia, we fought back both times. I think the pitch was much better in terms of helping the bowlers, so obviously, the confidence levels go up. We were able to put Australia under pressure because of that fact as well".