Virat Kohli suffered another failure on his comeback while former captain Rohit Sharma battled his way to a fine fifty as India put up a markedly better performance but failed to stop world champions Australia from winning the ODI series in Adelaide.
Rohit scored a patient 73 on a challenging wicket in the second ODI on Thursday as India posted 264-9. It was a significant improvement from the first match where India had managed 136-9 in a rain-affected game reduced to 26 overs.
In reply, Australia reached the target with two wickets in hand in the 47th over after fifties from Matthew Short (74) and Cooper Connolly (61 not out).
However, it was the failure of Kohli that was the highlight of the day, falling to a second successive duck after his return to the national team after more than six months away.
Fellow senior batter Rohit used his experience to get through a testing opening spell from Josh Hazlewood before letting loose, hitting seven fours and two sixes in his 97-ball knock.
Shreyas Iyer (61) was also impressive in a 118-run stand with Rohit.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa was the pick of the bowlers with 4-60.
Hazlewood was virtually unplayable early on, opening with 13 dot balls, but it was Xavier Bartlett who got the breakthrough.
The seamer tempted Shubman Gill to skip down the pitch only to chip an easy catch to captain Mitchell Marsh at mid-off.
That brought Kohli to the crease and after an eight-ball duck in the first ODI in Perth, the 36-year-old was keen for runs as the series is seen as decisive in prolonging his international career.
But he lasted just four deliveries with Bartlett trapping him lbw to leave India reeling at 17-2 after seven overs.
It is the first time Kohli has been dismissed for consecutive ducks in his long ODI career.
Rohit weathered the storm and hit two sixes in three balls off Mitchell Owen in the 19th over as he found his groove, reaching a 59th half-century off 74 balls.
Iyer brought up his 50 from 67 deliveries before Marsh turned to Mitchell Starc in a bid to break the partnership.
India then lost wickets in a bunch before tail-enders Harshit Rana (24) and Arshdeep Singh (13) took the total close to 270.
“We had just enough runs on the board … it's never easy to defend those totals when you drop a couple of catches,” said India captain Gill.
“There was a little bit in the wicket initially, but as the ball got older it got better to bat on.”
India's fast bowlers made a good start in helpful conditions. They did not let Australia cut loose and dismissed the dangerous Marsh (11) and Travis Head (28) fairly cheaply.
But Australia's middle order weathered the storm, chipping away at the runs before tearing into Rana (2-59 in eight overs) to pull the game back.
The hosts lost three quick wickets with just 19 needed but reached the target with 22 balls in hand.
“It's awesome and rapt to have won the series,” said Marsh. “Hazlewood was unbelievable, the whole bowling unit kept trying to pick up wickets and awesome batting. We'll certainly enjoy the series win.”
India once again paid the price for not picking genuine wicket-taking options.
Gill's team are without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and have also benched a proven performer like Kuldeep Yadav, instead picking all-rounders such as Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy, leaving their bowling weak.
