For the first time in the series, the visiting Australian team looked comfortable with the bat in hand after winning the toss and batting first.
It is a must-win encounter for Aussies to keep the series alive, and captain Steve Smith opted to bat first after losing the first two matches while chasing. Aaron Finch made a comeback, as Hilton Cartwright who scored a mere two runs in the first two games, made way for him.
The pitch looked a batting paradise, as both the openers; Finch and David Warner began fluently. They got off to a relatively sedate start, but just when the Indian bowlers were getting a hold of the game, both the openers started going against them and made good use of the powerplay.
Warner, in particular, looked in ominous touch and smashed a huge six before Hardik Pandya castled him with a perfect off-cutter which gripped after pitching. The batsman had no idea and was beaten all ends up. Smith was the next man in, and as always busily began his innings by working singles and doubles and scoring the occasional boundaries.
Finch after a subtle start started taking on the Indian bowlers with disdain in the middle-overs, as Australia looked to score well over 300 320. He was playing the big shots on a consistent basis, and along with Smith, the duo was slowly taking the game away from the Indians.
Finch struck 12 fours and five gigantic sixes during his innings of 124 of 125 deliveries before chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav removed him with a flighted delivery. Finch had done the job for the visitors, and the onus was now left on the rest of the batsmen to get Australia to a big total. The chinaman spinner who completed a historic hat-trick in the previous match, then sent back Smith to the pavilion, as the visitors slowly started losing the plot.
Dangerman Glenn Maxwell was stumped for yet another time, as Yuzvendra Chahal bamboozled him with a brilliant delivery. Wickets kept tumbling on regular intervals, as Australia failed to press on the accelerator in the final few overs. The next man to go was Travis Head who was castled by a Yorker from Jasprit Bumrah, as Australia was reduced to 260/5 from 224/1 at one stage.
Peter Handscomb who came into the playing XI at the expense of Matthew Wade had to come and go, as Manish Pandey completed a brilliant catch near the boundary ropes. He showed the presence of mind and threw the ball in the air when he realised his momentum would take him beyond the boundary rope. He returned to the playing arena and completed the catch. It was a difficult catch, but Pandey made it look simple.
Eventually, after bowling some terrific death overs, the Indians were able to restrict Australia to a total of 293/6, which is a win for India given the fact Australia was in a position to score 340-350 at one stage. Kuldeep was expensive conceding 75 runs in his ten overs but bagged two crucial wickets. Bumrah also scalped a couple of wickets while Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya chipped in with a wicket each.