Dhoni steers India to 303 for nine against Australia

Mahendra Singh Dhoni led from the front by smashing an unbeaten 139 as India recovered from a poor start to post a massive 303 for nine against Australia in the third cricket one-dayer of the seven-match series, here today.
Dhoni rescued India after early jitters as he played a responsible and sensible innings that came off just 121 balls, including 12 fours and five sixes.
The skipper also shared two significant partnerships -- putting on a solid 72-run stand for the fifth wicket with Virat Kohli (68) before joining hands with Ravichandran Ashwin (28) to put up 76 runs for the seventh wicket.

For Australia, Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bowlers with figures of four for 46.
Put in to bat, India did not make an ideal start as openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (8), both of whom were instrumental in setting up a great platform for the team's massive 360 run chase in the previous game, today fell cheaply.
With India two down for 37, the onus was on Suresh Raina and Kohli to bail the hosts out of trouble.

But in the 13th over, Johnson struck back to see off Raina caught at the slip by Shane Watson before dismissing comeback man Yuvraj Singh off his very next delivery for a first-ball duck.

It was heartbreak for the fans of local hero Yuvraj, who edged an away going delivery to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
Raina and Yuvraj's dismissals in consecutive balls led to the run flow drying up.
Both Kohli and Dhoni also adopted a cautious approach as the duo confined themselves to scoring just in singles and twos. There was no boundary or a six hit for as many as eight overs.