Australia made 348 for eight in their 50 overs, with a ton from Aaron Finch and 93 from David Warner. India then seemed well of track, as Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli put on a double century stand, both making hundreds.

But India choked thanks to some clever bowling from Kane Richardson, who took five wickets, but it was more a case of throwing their wickets away once the centurions were out. They collapsed from 277/1 to 323 all out.

Australia won the toss and opted to bat, having already won the series and looking for a whitewash. Once again, their top order set about piling on the runs against a poor India bowling attack, and openers Finch and Warner raced to a century stand.

The pair put on 187 for the first wicket inside 30 overs, before Warner was bowled by Ishant Sharma for 93. Mitchell Marsh was promoted up the order to three but batted relatively slowly for his 33.

At the other end, Finch made 107 off the same number of balls, while Steve Smith smacked 51 off 29 deliveries. A few wickets then fell, making the certain 350 seem impossible.

But Glenn Maxwell once again showed his skills by hitting 41 unbeaten runs off 20 balls at the death. He hit 18 runs off the last over, so while they may not have reached 350, a score of 348 was close enough.

But it didn’t seem like enough when Dhawan and Kohli were batting (Rohit Sharma out cheaply) as they looked to demolish the home bowling. James Faulkner was particularly savaged, going for 48 runs in seven overs.

But then John Hastings struck to remove Kohli and MD Dhoni in the same over, the latter for a duck, and everything fell apart from there. India’s batsmen made little attempt to play proper cricket shots, despite still only needing a run per ball.

After the centurions, the only batsman below the top three to reach double figures was Ravi Jadeja, who made 24 not out as he watched the wickets tumble at the other end, mostly to Richardson.

Mitch Marsh took the final two wickets, with a few dropped catches going unpunished, as India needed 26 runs off the final over. Australia bowled them out with four balls to spare.

After Indian opener Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 171 to lead his country to an imposing 309-3, Australia got away to a rocky start when left arm seamer Barinder Sran removed both openers in his first three overs.

Playing on a lifeless pitch which offered nothing for the bowlers, Bailey and Smith played brilliantly to frustrate the Indian attack.

They rotated the strike throughout the innings to keep the score moving, taking quick singles and hitting boundaries when they needed to increase the pace.

Bailey was the more aggressive early and reached his century before his captain, taking just 106 balls with six boundaries and two sixes.

Smith began to accelerate and followed Bailey to three figures soon after, off only 97 balls including six fours and a towering six.

Bailey eventually fell when he tried to smash another six off Ravi Ashwin and was caught on the boundary by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but Smith continued his incredible vein of form.

He smashed his way to 149 but with only two runs needed for victory he chipped Sran to cover where Virat Kohli claimed an easy catch, leaving James Faulkner to hit the winning run.

“I thought we did well in the field to restrict them to 309,” Smith said.

“They looked like they were going to get 350 at one stage.”

India must have been confident of defending their total after Sran’s impressive start.

He brilliantly caught and bowled Finch (8) in his second over, then had the dangerous Warner (5) caught at midwicket by Kohli in his third.

But the ease with which Australia chased the score down showed that India had not scored quickly enough in the middle of their innings and were at least 20 runs short of a competitive total.

“I think it’s important that after you score 300 runs you bowl well and I think in the middle overs when the spinners were bowling they gave up too many runs,” Dhoni said.

“I was quite happy with the fast bowling performance — I thought they bowled well and hit the right spots.”

Earlier Sharma and Kohli (91) shared a 207-run partnership for the second wicket against a toothless Australian attack.

India lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (9) in the sixth over when he top-edged an attempted pull from Josh Hazlewood straight to Mitchell Marsh at deep backward square leg.

However, that brought Kohli to the crease and signalled a long period of complete dominance over the Australian attack as he raced to the highest individual ODI score against Australia on Australian soil, eclipsing Viv Richards’ 153 not out for the West Indies in 1979.

Sharma smashed 13 fours and cleared the boundary seven times to the delight of the large contingent of Indian fans at the ground. He built his innings steadily, bringing up his 50 from 63 balls, his century from 122 and his 150 from 155, mixing quick singles with some powerful boundary hitting.

It was the fourth time Sharma had scored 150 in ODIs, a record only surpassed by countryman Sachin Tendulkar.

Sharma lost Kohli with the score on 243 and was joined at the crease by Dhoni, who joined in with 18 rapid runs before he was caught brilliantly at mid-on by Boland.

However, despite the late flourish the Indians fell short and Australia were able to draw first blood in the five-match series.

AFP

(AFP) Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed a five-wicket haul as India enforced the follow-on before the rain-ruined Test against Bangladesh ended in an inevitable draw in Fatullah on Sunday.

After the entire morning session was washed out, India bowled out Bangladesh for 256 in their first innings to gain a lead of 206 runs over their own effort of 462-6 declared.

Given 30 overs to bat a second time, the hosts were 23 without loss after 15 overs when both sides agreed to call off the match at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali stadium.
Ashwin and fellow off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shared eight wickets to lead India’s brave bid to win a match in which bad weather interrupted play on all five days. The entire second day was washed out.
The duo took centre-stage after Shikhar Dhawan (173) and Murali Vijay (150) had shared an opening partnership of 283 and Ajinkya Rahane made 98 after India had won the toss and elected to bat.
For Bangladesh, star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan picked up four of the six wickets before opener Imrul Kayes top-scored with 72 and debutant Litton Das made 44.
When play resumed after lunch on the final day, Bangladesh added 10 runs to their overnight score of 111-3 before Ashwin broke through by having Shakib caught behind by Wriddhiman Saha for nine.

India: 462-6 declared
Bangladesh: 256 (Imrul Kayes 72, Litton Das 44, Ashwin 5-87) and 23-0

Saha was in action again when he stumped Kayes off Harbhajan, before Soumya Sarkar was bowled by Varun Aaron to make it 176-6.
Shuvagata Hom added 43 for the seventh wicket with Das before he was caught at short-leg by Rohit Sharma to give Ashwin his fourth wicket.
Das lived up to his promise as a batsman, but fell six short of a half-century when he became Ashwin’s fifth victim through another catch by Sharma.
Harbhajan removed Mohammad Shahid through a catch in the deep before Jubair Hossain was run out to end the innings.
Tamim Iqbal (16) and Kayes (seven) played out time in the second innings before the game ended.
The two teams are scheduled to play three one-day internationals in Dhaka on June 18, 21 and 24.

(AFP) Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay flayed Bangladesh’s bowlers with an unbeaten 239-run partnership on the rain-curtailed opening day of the one-off Test match in Fatullah on Wednesday.
Dhawan was unbeaten on a stroke-filled 150 off 158 balls and Vijay was on a more sedate 89 after their captain Virat Kohli won the toss on the easy-paced wicket at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali stadium.
Left-hander Dhawan, who had been dropped for India’s previous Test against Australia in Sydney in January, marked his comeback with 21 boundaries in his third century.
Vijay, lucky to survive a leg-before appeal before he had scored, proved the perfect foil at the other end as Bangladesh employed seven bowlers to try to break the partnership.
Just 56 of the stipulated 90 overs were bowled during the day as rain, which arrived 25 minutes before lunch, washed out the entire post-lunch session.
Floodlights had to be switched on in the morning session to allow play to take place as threatening dark clouds loomed overhead.
Scores
India First Innings 239/0 wicket
at close
(Murali Vijay 89 not out, Shikhar Dhawan 150 not out)
Dhawan and Vijay attacked the four-pronged spin attack on either side of the interruption to compile their second 200-plus stand after their 289-run effort against Australia in 2013.
Vijay brought up the double-century partnership with a six off leg-spinner Jubair Hossain, but it was Dhawan who dominated the stand with attractive strokes all round the wicket.
Dhawan raced to 74 off 71 balls, but the untimely rain interruption denied him a chance to attempt a century before lunch.
The left-hander was on 73 when he mistimed a shot off left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, but Shuvagata Hom failed to grasp a difficult chance at short mid-wicket after getting his hands on the ball.
When play resumed after tea, Dhawan was stranded on 98 for seven deliveries before pulling Jubair for a boundary to bring up his third Test century.
The hosts’ gameplan to play four spinners meant Mohammad Shahid was the lone seamer in the side, with part-timer Soumya Sarkar sharing the new ball.
Taijul was the most expensive bowler, conceding 55 runs in his 12 overs, while Jubair went for 41 runs in his seven.
India have recalled Harbhajan Singh after two years for the current match, to partner fellow off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in a two-man spin attack.