The bowlers came to the party in Rajkot after being hammeredaround by Aaron Finch and David Warner in the first ODI in Mumbai. Defending340, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami struck at crucial timesto make sure the Aussies don't get away with the game despite a 96-run standfor the third wicket between Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

Smith and Labuschagne did look to take the game away at onepoint with the former looking increasingly comfortable at point before theformer Australia captain chopped one off Kuldeep on to his stumps to fall for96 in the 38th over -- which also saw the return of Alex Carey two ballsearlier. Smith's wicket was Kuldeep's 100th in ODIs and he became the thirdfastest Indian to reach the milestone and fastest Indian spinner ever.

Following Smith's wicket, Ashton Turner and Aston Agar didput on a small stand of 38 runs but Shami got the wickets of Turner and PatCummins on consecutive balls to peg the visitors back further and break anyhopes of taking the series with a game to spare.

The pacers once again stood up for Virat Kohli after aninitial struggle by the spinners with Shami picking up 3 wickets and NavdeepSaini, Kuldeep and Jadeja picking up two wickets apiece.

However, amidst the joy of victory, India will be sweatingover the fitness of Rohit Sharma, who injured his left hand while trying tosave a boundary of Saini's bowling. The India opener walked off the fieldstraight away and was attended by physio Nitin Patel.Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan(96), KL Rahul (80) and Virat Kohli (78) struck fifties as India posted animposing 340/6 from their quota of 50 overs.Back in form since the last T20encounter against Sri Lanka, Dhawan opener looked solid in his 90-ball-96 whileKohli, back at his familiar one drop position, held the middle-order with a 78off 76 balls and Rahul (80 off 52 balls) provided the final flourish in whatwas much improved batting performance from the hosts.

While Dhawan added 81 for the opening stand with RohitSharma (42) who would regret this missed opportunity on a batting belter aftergetting set, the southpaw also had a vital 103-run stand with Kohli for thesecond wicket.The Kohli-Rahul duo's 78-run partnership off 10.3 overs was alsopivotal as it helped the latter to launch a final assault during the end overs.

While Dhawan's innings had 13 fours and a six, Kohli had sixhits to the fence including a classic jab-flick off Pat Cummins (0/53 in 10overs). Rahul's was a stand-out innings with six boundaries and three-maximums, one of which was a lofted cover drive off Mitchell Starc (0/78 in 10overs), who had a forgettable day.Adam Zampa (3/50 in 10 overs) was once againthe stand-out performer taking Kohli out of equation for the seventh time inlimited overs just when he was looking to get his 44th ODI ton.

At the start, Dhawan began with a bowler's bck-drive, givinga glimpse of what was in store. The southpaw completed his sixth fifty versusAustralia in 60 balls as he played shots all around the ground.The last timeDhawan scored successive fifties was in January 2019 against New Zealand. Thiswas his 29th in 50-over cricket.

The left-hander was particularly harsh on left-arm spinnerAshton Agar (0-63 in 8 overs), whom he hammered for two successive fours in the25th, a sweep and a reverse-sweep, and then in 27th over stuck a four and asix, not allowing him to settle down.

In fact the 77 runs from 10 overs bowled by fifth and sixthbowling option Marnus Labuschagne (0/14 in 2 overs) was the difference from thelast game.

However, Dhawan missed out on his 18th ODI hundred by fourruns when he pulled a Kane Richardson ball straight to fine leg in 29th over.

Shreyas Iyer (7) fell cheaply. But Kohli was in sublimetouch as he ran the singles and doubles with intensity and also it the looseballs for boundary.