Aus beat India in nailbiter

Melbourne - Aaron Finch made 96 on Sunday to lead Australia  to a six-wicket win over India in a tri-series one-day cricket match shaped by the innings of two opening batsmen.

Rohit Sharma earlier made 138, batting for 49 overs and adding 126 with Suresh Raina, to steer India to 267-8 as they batted first at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after winning the toss.

Mitchell Starc took a career-best 6-43 to limit India.

Australia's innings developed along strikingly similar lines: Aaron Finch opened and played the anchor, sharing a 101-run third-wicket partnership with Steve Smith that carried Australia within sight of victory.

Finch and Smith were out within three balls of each other around the 40th over and Australia lost two more wickets before it reached its target with an over to spare.

Scoreboard:

India Innings

Rohit Sharma c Maxwell b Starc 138

Shikhar Dhawan c Finch b Starc 2

Ajinkya Rahane c Haddin b Sandhu 12

Virat Kohli c Bailey b Faulkner 9

Suresh Raina c Maxwell b Starc 51

M.S.Dhoni b Starc 19

Akshar Patel lbw b Starc 0

Ravi Ashwin not out 14

Bhuvneshwar Kumar b Starc 0

Mohammed Shami not out 2

Extras (1b,3lb,15w,1nb) 20

TOTAL (for 8 wickets) 267

Overs: 50. Batting time: 236 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-33, 3-59, 4-185, 5-237, 6-237, 7-262, 8-262.

Did not bat: Umesh Yadav.

Bowling: Mitchell Starc 10-2-43-6 (4w), Pat Cummins 10-0-52-0 (2w), Gurinder Sandhu 10-0-58-1 (3w), James Faulkner 10-0-63-1 (3w,1nb), Shane Watson 8-0-33-0 (3w), Glenn Maxwell 2-0-14-0.

Aaron Finch c Dhoni b Yadav 96

David Warner c Raina b Yadav 24

Shane Watson b Patel 41

Steve Smith c Ashwin b Shami 47

Glenn Maxwell c and b Kumar 20

George Bailey std. Dhoni b Ashwin 5

Brad Haddin not out 13

James Faulkner not out 9

Extras (3lb,11w) 14

TOTAL (for 6 wickets) 269

Overs: 49. Batting time: 211 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-115, 3-216, 4-219, 5-230, 6-248.

Did not bat: Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Gurinder Sandhu.

Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9.5-0-44-1 (3w), Umesh Yadav 10-1-55-2 (4w), Mohammed Shami 8.1-0-44-1 (1w), Akshar Patel 10-0-45-1 (1w), Ravi Ashwin 9-0-54-1, Suresh Raina 2-0-24-0 (2w).

Result: Australia won by four wickets.

Toss: won by India.

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka, and John Ward, Australia.

TV Umpire: Mick Martell, Australia. Match Referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.